Boil a sufficient quantity of sprouts as before, and dress them upon your dish in pyramid; then put a pint of melted butter in a stewpan, let boil, and whilst boiling add a quarter of a pound of maître d’hôtel butter (No. 79), stir it in quickly and sauce over, or sauce them in layers as you dress them up.
No. 1084. Choux de Bruxelles à la Crème en turban de Concombres.
Make a turban of cucumbers, cut and dressed as directed (No. 103), form the turban upon a border of mashed potatoes; boil sufficient Brussel sprouts, which dress in pyramid, sauce over the cucumbers with a good sauce Hollandaise (No. 66), and over the sprouts with a good sauce béchamel (No. 7), but not too thick, so that the Brussel sprouts may show through it; they may likewise be dressed in a border of Jerusalem artichokes, which gives a great variety to those favourite vegetables; peas and French beans may also be dressed in a turban of the above description.
No. 1087. Spinach
Is a very wholesome and digestible vegetable, excellent for invalids, but still more so for those in good health, because an invalid can only have it plain-dressed, whilst a person in health can enjoy it in any of the tasty ways in which it is dressed. Pick and wash it very clean in three or four waters, for as nothing is worse than spinach when gritty, so likewise there is nothing more troublesome to get quite clean, from its growing so near the earth; boil in plenty of salt and water about a quarter of an hour, then drain it through a sieve, and squeeze quite dry with a cloth, chop very fine (which I consider is better than passing through a wire sieve), put it in a stewpan with half a pound of fresh butter, pepper, salt, half a teaspoonful of sugar, and a little grated nutmeg, stir five minutes over a sharp fire, pour it out upon your dish, and serve with croutons of fried bread round; the above proportion is for half a sieve.
No. 1088. Epinards au jus.
Proceed exactly as above, adding half a tablespoonful of flour, and when well mixed half a pint of good demi-glace (No. 9), glaze the croutons which you garnish with and serve.
No. 1089. Epinards à la Française.
When your spinach is well chopped put it into a stewpan with a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, stir over the fire till quite hot, then add a tablespoonful of flour; season with a little pepper, salt, sugar, and grated nutmeg, mix well, then add half a pint of good stock, stir ten minutes over the fire, add a quarter of a pound more butter, after taking it from the fire; when melted pour it out upon your dish and serve as before. The old system was to make a roux, which frequently got rather overdone, and gave the spinach more the flavour of sauce, thus destroying the aroma; but the flour, if added proportionably, gives no flavour, and slightly thickens.