Instructions: Pull stems from spinach and wash leaves in several changes of water. Pack wet leaves in large saucepan, cover it, and wilt leaves over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain spinach and let it cool. Squeeze handfuls of spinach in your fists to extract water, and then chop it.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in saucepan, add onion, and saute over medium heat until it is soft but not brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in spinach with salt and pepper and continue cooking, stirring, until it is quite dry, 2 to 3 minutes.

Set aside.

To make a white sauce, melt remaining butter in a saucepan, whisk in flour, and cook until foaming but not browned, about 1 minute. Whisk in milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until sauce thickens.

Simmer it for 2 minutes and then take it off the heat. Transfer about a third of white sauce into a small saucepan and pour the cream on top so it coats the sauce and prevents a skin from forming. Set aside.

Generously butter six (1 cup) ramekins, and chill them. Stir spinach into remaining sauce and heat until very hot. Remove mixture from heat, taste, and adjust seasoning; it should be well seasoned to make up for bland egg whites.

Beat in egg yolks a bit at a time so they cook in the heat of the sauce and thicken it slightly. Cover saucepan with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the spinach mixture.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a roasting pan of water to a boil on the stove for a bain-marie. Beat egg whites until stiff, adding a pinch of salt to help stiffen them. Warm spinach mixture gently until pan is hot to the touch.

Add about a quarter of the beaten egg whites and stir until well mixed. The heat of the sauce will cook the whites slightly. Add this mixture to the remaining whites and fold them together as lightly as possible.

Fill ramekins with the mixture. Run a thumb around edge of each dish to detach the mixture so the souffle rises straight. Set ramekins in the bain-marie, bring it back to a boil on the stove and transfer it to the oven.

Bake until souffles are puffed, browned and just set in the center, 20 to 25 minutes. They should rise well above the rim of the dish. Take ramekins from bain-marie and leave them to cool - the souffles will shrink back into the ramekins, pulling away slightly from the sides.

Turn each souffle dish out into a gratin dish. Whisk cream with reserved sauce until smooth and bring it just to a boil. Season it to taste with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and pour on top of the souffles, letting it pool around the sides. Sprinkle them with cheese.

Note: The souffles can be kept covered with plastic wrap, for up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.

To finish, heat oven to 425 degrees. Bake souffles until browned, slightly puffed and sauce is bubbling, 7 to 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

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