The bottoms (receptacles), which many consider the most delicate part of the artichoke, may be cut up and served as a salad, or they may be stewed and served with a sauce. To prepare the artichoke remove all the hard outer leaves. Cut off the stem close to the leaves. Cut off the top of the bud. Drop the artichokes into boiling water and cook until tender, which will take from thirty to fifty minutes, then take up and remove the choke. Serve a dish of French salad dressing with the artichokes, which may be eaten either hot or cold. Melted butter also makes a delicious sauce for the artichokes if they are eaten hot.
JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE
This vegetable is in season in the fall and spring, and may be cooked like kohl-rabi and served in a white cream or sauce. The artichoke may also be cooked in milk.
When this is done, cut the washed and peeled artichoke into cubes, put in a stew-pan, and cover with milk (a generous pint to a quart of cubes). Add one small onion and cook twenty minutes. Beat together one tablespoon of butter and one level tablespoon of flour, and stir this into the boiling milk. Then season with one teaspoon of salt and one-fourth teaspoon of pepper, and continue the cooking one-half hour longer. The cooking should be done in a double boiler. The artichoke also makes a very good soup.
FRENCH ARTICHOKES WITH TOMATO SAUCE
Pick off from the solid green globes the outer tough petals. Scoop out with a sharp-pointed knife the fuzzy centres, leaving the soft base, which is the luscious morsel. Cut each artichoke in halves, wash, drain and fry brown on each side in olive oil Make tomato sauce and cook thirty minutes in that mixture. Then serve.
BEET GREENS
Beets are usually thickly sowed, and as the young plants begin to grow they must be thinned out. These plants make delicious greens, and even the tops of the ordinary market beets are good if properly prepared. Examine the leaves carefully to be sure that there are no insects on them; wash thoroughly in several waters, and put over the fire in a large kettle of boiling water. Add one teaspoon of salt for every two quarts of greens; boil rapidly about thirty minutes or until tender; drain off the water; chop well and season with butter and salt.
BOILED BEETS
Carefully wash any earth off the beets, but every care is needed to avoid breaking the skin, roots or crown; if this is done much of their color will be lost, and they will be a dull pink. Lay them in plenty of boiling water, with a little vinegar; boil them steadily, keeping them well covered with water for about one and one-half to two hours for small beets and two to three and one-half hours for large ones. If they are to be served hot, cut off the roots and crown and rub off the skin directly, but if to be served cold, leave them until they have become cold and then cut into thin slices and sprinkle with salt and pepper and pour some vinegar over them. If to be eaten hot, cut them into thin slices, arrange them on a hot vegetable dish and pour over white sauce or melted butter, or hand these separately.