Creamed Spinach ('Rahmspinat')

Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat and sweat the shallot inside the butter for 2-3 minutes until translucent. Add the flour and sweat the butter-onion-flour-mixture ('roux') for 3-4 minutes until the flour starts smelling nutty but is still pale in color. Add the milk bit by bit stirring constantly with a whisk to prevent your sauce from turning lumpy. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, add one bay leaf, and let the sauce simmer gently for 10-15 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste.

In the meantime, blanch the spinach in plenty of salted boiling water for 20-30 seconds, just until wilted. Work in smaller batches and immediately after blanching the spinach put it inside an ice water bath to stop the cooking process. Once all your spinach is blanched, drain the water and squeeze out as much excess water as possible. You want your spinach to be dry and not watery. Roughly chop the spinach on a large cutting board.

Season your sauce to taste with sugar, lemon juice, nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Take out the bay leaf and add the spinach into your sauce. Let the spinach heat through for 1-2 minutes, then adjust the seasoning if required.