Put two or three bunches of spinach into an earthen pot with a finely chopped up shallot, and two ounces of butter, and mix well. When cooked, take off the fire, chop up very fine, add one egg, one ounce of grated cheese, a pinch of allspice, and roll up into balls or croquets; sprinkle with flour, and fry over a quick fire. Serve very hot garnished with fried parsley. (N.B.—Any vegetable, cardoon, cauliflower, etc., which is left over, can be fried in this way.)
Spinach Pudding with Mushrooms. (Bodino con Funghi.)
Wash a sufficient quantity of spinach well, boil it in salted water for a few minutes, drain and squeeze out the water thoroughly; then pound it in a mortar and finally rub it through a sieve. Then put it in an earthen pot with a good-sized piece of butter and a few drops of lemon juice; leave it to boil for a short time, then empty it into a dish, and when cold add the yolks of two or three well-beaten-up eggs. Put it into a well-buttered shape, leave an empty space in the middle, and cook slowly in a Bain-marie for one hour with fire above and below. When cooked, turn out on a dish and fill the empty space with small mushrooms cut up into little pieces, which have been previously prepared as in the recipe ‘alla Spagnuola’ (p. [75]).
Spinach ‘in Riccioli.’
Boil a bunch of spinach and rub it through a sieve. Beat up two eggs, season them with salt and pepper, and mix enough spinach with them to make them green. Put a little oil into the frying-pan, and when well heated pour a little of the egg in, turning the pan about so that the pancake should be as thin as a piece of paper, and dry. Toss if necessary. Take it out, repeat with the rest of the egg, then take the pancakes, place them one on the top of the other, and cut them into pieces the width of a finger and about two inches long. Fry them in butter and grate a little Parmesan cheese over them. They make an effective garnish.
Spinach Soufflé.
Take a cupful of spinach prepared as in ‘[Spinach alla Crema].’ Beat up one yolk of an egg, mix with the spinach and stir over the fire until the egg is set. Then let it cool, and before serving stir the well-beaten whites of three eggs lightly into it. Fill china cups, or buttered paper forms, half full, put them into a hot oven for ten or fifteen minutes, and serve at once. If too little baked, or not served at once, the soufflé will be spoiled.
Tomatoes Broiled.
Slice large ripe tomatoes (without peeling them), broil or toast them until slightly browned. Place them on a hot dish and pour boiling melted butter, mixed with a very little good wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and mustard, over them.