Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, a New Orleans original. Creamed spinach recipe included

Ruth Chris steakhouse is known for their fine cuts of mouth-watering steaks, but their signature appetizers are also equally delicious. Most notably, their sweet potato casserole and creamed spinach.

Ruth's Chris story begins in 1965 with owner Ruth Fertel. Against the advice of family and friends, Ruth risked everything she had and mortgaged her home to buy Chris' small steak house in New Orleans at the corner or N. Broad and Ursulines. A single mom at the age of 38 with two boys, Ruth successful reinvented and taught herself the restaurant business. Ruth discovered not long after the restaurant opened that a plate at 500 degrees with a pat of butter would keep her steaks hot to the last bite. So, she put her chemistry background to work and designed a proprietary 1800-degree broiler.

11 years later, a devastating fire destroyed the steak house and Ruth was forced to find a new location. Unfortunately, her contract would not allow her to keep the original restaurant's name, so she added hers to it to create Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

Photo byRuth's Chris Steak House Facebook

In 1977, the first franchise location of Ruth's Chris opened. Over the next two decades, the restaurant expanded all over the country, making over $200 million in annual revenue, according to Wikipedia.

In 1999, Ruth retired and sold the business to a private firm. She remained a shareholder until her death in 2002. There are currently over 100 locations of Ruth's Chris Steak House in 10 countries.

According to TopSecretRecipes.com, this is a copycat recipe for Ruth's famous creamed spinach.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1- 10-ounce package of frozen spinach
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• Pinch of black pepper
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Pinch of ground nutmeg

Photo bytopsecretrecipes.com

DIRECTIONS:

• Cook the spinach as directed, then drain and remove all the liquid from the spinach.
• In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
• Add the flour to the butter and stir well until smooth.
• Add the heavy whipping cream then heat for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened.
• Continually stir so that the sauce does not burn.
• Add in the spinach, salt, black pepper, nutmeg and cayenne pepper.
• Cook for a few minutes, stirring often.
• Serve warm and enjoy!