Baked Creamed Spinach #75

One of my favorite Food Network shows is called Cooking For Real with Sunny Anderson.  This is one of her recipes.  Sunny is one of my favorite Food Network personalities.  She is real and so warm.  You feel like she is your friend when you're watching her.  My absolute favorite vegetable dish is creamed spinach, and I have yet to try one of Sunny's recipes that I didn't like!  I have high hopes for this one. 

The case:

Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for pan
1/2 red onion, chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
1 cup shredded Parmesan
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sour cream
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 cup packaged fried onions (recommended: French's)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 8-inch baking dish. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt. Saute for 3 minutes, then add the garlic and red chili flakes and saute for 2 more minutes. Add the heavy cream, Parmesan, and nutmeg. Heat until the cream is just beginning to bubble, stirring often. Turn the burner off and stir in sour cream and spinach. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle the top evenly with fried onions. Bake until golden and bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes.

The ruling:
This is extremely good.  I've never had fried onions before, and I really like the contrast of the creamy and crunchy.  The pepper adds quite a bit of spice, so if you're cooking for someone who doesn't like things spicy, maybe leave out the pepper flakes.  I halved the amount and it was still pretty spicy.  I will definitely be making this again!

UPDATE: While reviewing this recipe on Food Network I read the 2 Tablespoons of Red Pepper Flakes was a typo.  Instead it  should have been 1/2 teaspoon, which makes a lot more sense.  That's what I get for not reading the reviews first!