How to cook vegetables

Pick, wash, blanch, cook, and drain the spinach, and rub it through a fine sieve. Fry the shallot lightly in the butter, stir in and cook the flour, add the spinach, a pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper, and stir till hot, then add the cream, and keep hot. Line 12 boat-shaped tins with thinly- rolled-out paste, fill them with rice, bake to a golden colour, take out the rice, and fill with the prepared spinach. Put a slice of hard-boiled egg on top of each. Then dish up and serve hot. SORREL (Oseille). A plant belonging to the genus Oxalis, several species of which grow wild in England. The leaves are all more or less acidulous from the presence of oxalic acid ; they are sometimes used in place of rennet. Sorrel is employed a good deal for culinary purposes, its leaves making a pleasant salad. The roots resemble rhubarb, and possess properties useful for medicine and dyeing ; they are considered anti-scorbutic, and when dried and boiled, yield a brilliant colour ; when powdered, they are used as an excellent dentifrice. Where it has once grown, sorrel is very difficult to eradicate, and after a year’s growth its roots can hardly ever be destroyed. Unless this is done thoroughly, every portion will retain its power of putting forth fresh buds and shoots. Sorrel Puree. Pick the stalks from 2 lb. of sorrel, and wash the leaves in several waters ; then put them in a saucepan with a little chervil, a few lettuce leaves, and 1 oz. of butter. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, stir over the fire with a wooden spoon, and cook till tender. Then pass through a fine sieve. Reheat the puree, and stir in 3 yolks of eggs and 1/2 gill of cream. Finally, season witli a pinch of sugar. Sorrel puree is served with fricandeau and other veal entrees, such as tendons, grenadins, etc. If the puree is too liquid, thicken with a little roux. Sorrel Soup ( Chiffonnade ). Take off the stalks from the leaves of about £ lb. of sorrel, previously washed and drained. Cut the SORREL. T 8 T leaves in fine shreds. Wash and dress a few lettuce leaves and cut them in the same way, and fry all in a stew-pan with about an ounce of butter. Add 3 pints of white stock, let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Just before serving season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of castor sugar, and bind the soup with 4 yolks of eggs mixed with 1 gill of cream. Stir over the fire, without letting it boil, and turn into a hot soup-tureen containing a handful of fried bread croutons, cut in thin finger shape ; add also a little chervil, and serve. Sorrel Soup with Vermicelli. Wash, peel, and slice 6 potatoes, cook them in 3 pints of seasoned stock, rub through a fine sieve, and return to the stew-pan. Cook 1 oz. of vermicelli in salted water and drain. Wash, drain, and shred finely £ lb. of sorrel. Melt 2 oz. of butter in a stewpan and put in the sorrel ; fry for a few minutes, then add this to the soup, boil up, stir in 8 egg yolks, and a gill of cream. Season with salt and pepper. Lastly, add the cooked vermicelli and serve. Sorrel Salad. Pick and wash well some young leaves of sorrel ; drain them thoroughly and put in a salad bowl. Season with salt and pepper, mix with fried slices of bacon, cut into fine strips, and serve. Boiled pickled pork can be used in place of bacon. A little vinaigrette sauce should be poured over the salad just before serving.