Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Volume II Part 21

3. The cooking of greens, both wild and cultivated, is not only simple but practically the same for all varieties. When they are not used as a salad vegetable, they are merely boiled until tender and then dressed in any desired way. Some kinds admit of special preparation, and wherever this is the case specific directions are given under the particular variety, but even in such an event the preliminary preparation is the same.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1]

To prepare greens, look them over carefully, remove any decayed or withered parts, cut off the leaves, and wash in fresh cold water. Remove from the water and wash again, and do this as many times as seems necessary to remove all the sand and grit that the stalks contain. An important point to remember is that the greens should not be cleansed by pouring the water off, as the sand will then remain in the pan and is likely to mix with the greens again. When they are thoroughly washed, put them on to cook in a saucepan or a similar utensil. If they are young and tender, they should be cooked as much as possible in their own juice in order to retain all the valuable mineral salts they contain, only enough water being added to start the cooking without burning. In the case of greens that are very strong in flavor, it will be necessary to cook them in a larger quant.i.ty of water and then pour off what remains after cooking. When they have cooked until they are tender, season them if necessary, and add b.u.t.ter to give them flavor and increase their food value. Vinegar or a slice of lemon adds much to the flavor of greens.

BEET TOPS

4. The tops of beets include the leaves and the stems of this vegetable, as Fig. 1 shows. They are at their best when the beets are very young or before the beets themselves have developed. Beet tops are not used so extensively as some greens, but they will be found to have a more agreeable flavor than many greens that are more popular. Beets are raised for the purpose of supplying greens by planting the seeds closely enough together to form a thick bed of leaves and then thinning them out before the beets have developed. A few may be allowed to remain and develop for use as beets. Young beets that are purchased with the tops on also furnish a source of beet tops as well as beets.

When beet tops are to be cooked, cut the stems into inch lengths and use them with the leaves. Proceed to clean and cook the greens according to the directions given in Art. 3. Season with salt and pepper and flavor with b.u.t.ter. Serve with something tart, such as vinegar or lemon.

DANDELION

5. Dandelion, both wild and cultivated, is a plant whose leaves are much used for a vegetable green before the blossoms develop. The wild ones have the advantage of being cheap, so they should be used if they can be secured; the cultivated ones, on the other hand, cost as much as spinach and other greens. The season for dandelions is comparatively short, lasting only a few weeks in the early spring. Use should therefore be made of them when they can be procured in order to secure variety for the menu. When they are desired as cooked greens, prepare them in the manner explained in Art. 3.

6. Dandelion With Sour Sauce.--If a change in the cooking of dandelion is desired, it should be prepared with a sour sauce. This method of preparation is very popular, for besides increasing the food value of this variety of greens, it improves the flavor very much.

DANDELION WITH SOUR SAUCE (Sufficient to Serve Six)

1/2 pk. dandelion 1/2 c. vinegar 4 thin slices bacon 1/2 c. water 2 Tb. flour 1 egg 1 tsp. salt

Clean and wash the dandelion. Cut the slices of bacon into small pieces and saute until crisp. Stir the flour and salt into the bacon fat, add the vinegar and water, and stir until the flour thickens. Add the beaten egg last, and remove from the fire. Put the dandelion into the pan and mix well with the hot sauce. If the dandelion is preferred well wilted, set the pan over the flame, and stir until the dandelion appears as desired. Serve hot.

ENDIVE

7. ENDIVE is an herb that is used as a salad plant or is cooked and served with a hot dressing or as greens. The three common varieties of this green are escarole, chicory, and French endive, all of which have a slightly bitter taste and may be found in the market from late summer until early winter. _Escarole_ is a broad-leaved variety that is grown more or less in a head. _Chicory_, which is shown in Fig. 1, has a small feathery-edged leaf, and is often bleached by tying the leaves together at the top, so that the inside ones are very tender. Both of these varieties may be cooked, but they are also much used for salads. _French endive_ bears very little resemblance to the other kinds, having straight, creamy-white leaves that are closely pressed together. It looks very much like sprouts of some kind, and is entirely bleached in the process of growth by banking the earth around it. It is never used for anything except salads and garnishes.

8. Endive is very low in food value, comparing very closely with celery and cuc.u.mbers in this respect. Still, as a salad vegetable, it is worthy of much more extensive use than is generally made of it. As a rule, its price is about the same as that of lettuce, so it should be subst.i.tuted frequently for lettuce to give variety to the diet. To be most satisfactory, endive should be bought when it is fresh and unwithered and kept until used in a cool, damp place. A good plan is to wrap such vegetables in a damp cloth. If, upon using, endive appears to be withered, it may be freshened by placing it in a pan of cold water and allowing it to remain there for a short time.

When endive is used as a salad, it may be served merely with a salad dressing of some kind or it may be combined with other vegetables before applying the dressing. Escarole and chicory, which are much used as greens, should be prepared and cooked according to the directions given in Art. 3.

LETTUCES

9. Lettuce is a well-known herb that is much used as a salad vegetable.

There are numerous varieties of lettuce, but these may be reduced to the two kinds shown in Fig. 2, _leaf lettuce_ on the right and _head lettuce_ on the left. Leaf lettuce, which is more often used for garnishing than for any other purpose, has firm, crisp, green, upright leaves; on the other hand, head lettuce has round leaves forming a compact head, like cabbage. The outside leaves of head lettuce are green, but the inside ones are usually bleached by the exclusion of light, as are those of cabbage and endive. These inside leaves are more tender than the others, and hence more to be desired as a salad vegetable than the unbleached variety. In food value, lettuce compares closely with other varieties of greens and is high in the same mineral salts that they are. The bleached leaves do not contain so much iron as the green ones. [Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2]

10. As has already been implied, lettuce finds its princ.i.p.al use in garnishing salads. When used for this purpose, it should be eaten along with the salad, for it is too valuable to be wasted. Since the coa.r.s.e outside leaves of a stalk or a head of lettuce do not look so well as the tender bleached ones, they are often rejected, but this should not be done, for use can also be made of them. For instance, such leaves may be shredded into narrow strips and used as a foundation for salads that will be just as attractive as those having a single lettuce leaf for a garnish. When it is realized that the outside leaves are purchased at the same price as the more delicate parts of the lettuce, it can readily be understood why they also should be utilized as food. Most of the garden varieties of lettuce, especially when they have grown very large, are frequently cooked as greens. When used in this way, lettuce is prepared, as are other greens, according to the directions given in Art.

3. This vegetable also makes an appetizing dish when it is prepared with a sauce and served hot in the same way as dandelion.

SPINACH

11. SPINACH, which is shown in Fig. 1, consists of the large, fleshy, deep-green leaves of a garden herb much used as a green for food. In fact, this is one of the most popular varieties of greens and is used more extensively than any other. Many varieties of spinach are grown, but all of them are used in just the same way. It is slightly higher in food value than lettuce and endive, but lower than dandelion. However, it is a valuable food in the diet because of the large quant.i.ty of iron it contains, and many persons eat it not so much because they like it but because they believe it is good for them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 3]

12. Some kinds of spinach do not keep for long periods of time.

Therefore, in order to avoid any waste, spinach should always be very fresh when purchased and should be used as soon as possible after it is obtained. It may be prepared in a greater number of ways than most of the other greens except, perhaps, those used for salads. For instance, it is served with entrees of various kinds, is combined with meat, ham and spinach being a much used combination, or is made into a puree by forcing it through a sieve and then used in the making of soup or souffle. Then, again, spinach is often boiled and pressed into small cups to form molds like the one shown in Fig. 3. Such a mold may be used to garnish a dish of some sort or, as here shown, may be garnished with a slice of hard-cooked egg. When spinach is used in any of these ways, it should first be cooked according to the directions given for the preparation of greens in Art. 3. 13. SPINACH SOUFFLe.--The puree that is made by forcing boiled spinach through a sieve may be used in a variety of ways, but none of these is more satisfactory than spinach souffle. When made according to the accompanying recipe, spinach souffle will be found to be appetizing as well as nourishing.

SPINACH SOUFFLe (Sufficient to Serve Six)

2 Tb. b.u.t.ter 1/2 c. hot milk 2 Tb. flour 1 c. spinach puree 1 tsp. salt 2 egg whites Dash of pepper

Melt the b.u.t.ter, add the flour, salt, pepper, and hot milk, and stir in the spinach puree. Beat the egg whites stiff and fold them into the mixture. Grease individual baking dishes or a large baking dish and fill two-thirds full with the mixture. Place in a pan of hot water and bake in a slow oven until firm, or for about 20 or 30 minutes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4]

14. SPINACH ROYAL.--A very attractive dish can be made by combining spinach with toast, hard-cooked egg, and lemon in the manner shown in Fig. 4. This dish is known as _spinach royal_, and because of the additional ingredients it is nutritious as well as palatable.

SPINACH ROYAL (Sufficient to Serve Four)

1/2 pk. spinach 1/3 c. water 1-1/2 tsp. salt 3 Tb. bacon fat or b.u.t.ter 3 Tb. flour 1/8 tsp. pepper Triangular pieces of toast 2 hard-cooked eggs 1 lemon

Look the spinach over carefully and remove all roots and dead leaves.

Cut the stalks apart and wash them thoroughly several times in fresh, clean water to remove the sand and dirt, lifting the spinach out of the water each time instead of pouring the water off. Put the spinach into a saucepan with the water. Stir frequently until the spinach is wilted and there is sufficient water to boil it. Add 1 teaspoonful of the salt and cook until the leaves are very tender, or for about 15 or 20 minutes.

Drain off all but about 1/2 cupful of the liquid. Melt the fat in a frying pan, stir the flour into it, brown to a golden brown, and then add the spinach, pepper, and remaining salt. Stir and cook until the flour has thickened and mixed well with the spinach. Turn out in a mound on a platter and place the pieces of toast around the spinach as shown.

Slice the hard-cooked eggs, cut the lemon into any desirable shape, and use these to garnish the platter. In serving this dish, put a spoonful of spinach on a piece of toast and serve a slice or two of egg and lemon with each portion.

15. CREAMED SPINACH.--After spinach has been boiled until it is tender, it may be made more appetizing by combining it with a well-flavored cream sauce, according to the accompanying directions.

CREAMED SPINACH (Sufficient to Serve Four)

1/2 pk. spinach 1/2 tsp. salt 2 Tb. ham or bacon fat Dash of pepper 2 Tb. flour 2/3 c. milk

Boil the spinach according to the directions given in Art. 3. Melt the fat in a frying pan, add the flour, salt, pepper, and milk, and stir until the flour thickens. Chop the cooked spinach and add it to the hot dressing. Stir and cook until the two are well blended. Serve hot.

WATERCRESS AND PARSLEY

16. WATERCRESS and PARSLEY are two herbs, or greens, that are used considerably for garnishing and flavoring other dishes. These greens are shown in Fig. 5, that at the left being watercress and that at the right parsley.

17. Watercress, which is commonly known as _peppercress_, usually grows wild in beds along the banks of springs or clear, cool streams. A few varieties, however, are cultivated, and these are grown in dry soil and known as _upland cress_. It is a very prolific herb, and may be obtained from early spring until late in the fall; in fact, it does not freeze easily and is sometimes found in early winter along the swiftly flowing streams that are not frozen over. Watercress may be used whenever it can be procured, but it is not very desirable when in blossom. Its chief use is to garnish salads and other dishes, but it may also be cooked and served hot as a green. In such an event, its cooking is accomplished in the same way as that of other greens.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5]

18. Parsley, while cla.s.sified as a green vegetable, is perhaps not in the true sense of the word a real vegetable, since it is used for only two purposes, and in neither of these is it served cooked or raw as an exclusive article of diet. The most important use of parsley is perhaps that of flavoring. It is added to soups, sauces, and various kinds of cooked vegetables in order to impart additional flavor. In such cases, it should be chopped very fine in order that all possible flavor may be extracted from it. Parsley may also be dried before it is used for this purpose, provided it must be kept for any length of time. The other use of parsley is that of garnishing. It is often used in small sprays to garnish a roast of meat, a steak, chops, fish, or some baked, fried, or sauted vegetable. Sometimes it is chopped very fine and placed around the edge of a patty sh.e.l.l, a croustade, a timbale case, or a piece of toast upon which food is served. Parsley may be eaten when it is served as a garnish if its flavor is found to be agreeable to the taste.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES AND THEIR PREPARATION

19. JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES are tubers belonging to the sunflower family.

In appearance they resemble potatoes to some extent, but, as a rule, they are neither so large nor so smooth. The inside texture of this vegetable is more moist and not so mealy as that of the Irish potato.

Jerusalem artichokes are easy to grow and are very prolific, so that if any one is fond of them they will be found to be a profitable crop. For table use, they are prepared in much the same way as potatoes.

20. CREAMED ARTICHOKES.--A common method of preparing Jerusalem artichokes is to cream them. Wash and peel the desired number of artichokes and cut them into 1/2-inch dice. Put these to cook in boiling salted water and cook until tender enough to be pierced with a fork.

Drain off the water and dress with hot medium white sauce. Serve hot.

21. b.u.t.tERED ARTICHOKES.--Another satisfactory way in which to prepare Jerusalem artichokes is to dress them with b.u.t.ter. Wash and peel the required number of artichokes and cut them into slices. Put these to cook in boiling salted water and cook until tender enough to be pierced with a fork. Drain off the water and dress with melted b.u.t.ter to which has been added a little chopped parsley. Serve hot.