French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [148]
ENDIVES AU BEURRE (1)
ENDIVES STEWED IN BUTTER
Allowing 2 whole endives, prepared as above, for each person, put them in a thickly buttered fireproof dish in which they will just about fit. Arrange the endives in one or two layers, interspersing them with a plentiful amount of butter cut into little knobs, with more on the top, altogether about 2 oz. of butter for 2 lb. of endives. Cover the dish with buttered paper or foil and, if possible, a lid as well. Cook them in a low oven, Gas No. 3, 330 deg. F., for about 1 hours. By the time they are ready they will be golden brown and, of course, very much shrunk, so for appearance’ sake transfer them to another serving dish, with all their buttery juices. Now, and not before, sprinkle them with salt and lemon juice.
ENDIVES AU BEURRE (2)
ENDIVES STEWED IN BUTTER
Allow 1 to 2 endives per person. Peel off any brown outside leaves; wipe the endives with a cloth. With a stainless knife cut each into half-inch lengths. Melt a good lump of butter in a frying-pan. Put in the vegetables; let them cook a few seconds, turning them about with a wooden spoon, before adding salt, turning down the heat and covering the pan. By this method they will be sufficiently cooked in about 10 minutes (as opposed to over an hour when they are cooked whole) but uncover them and shake the pan from time to time to make sure the endives are not sticking. Before serving add a squeeze of lemon juice.
A variation is to add a few little cubes of bacon or ham. Leeks are excellent prepared and cooked in the same way.
ENDIVES AU LARD
ENDIVES WITH BACON OR HAM
Prepare and cook the endives exactly as for endives au beurre (1) and, 15 minutes before they are to be served, add 2 oz. of mild bacon previously fried a minute or two, or cooked salt pork or ham cut into little strips. Add a squeeze of lemon juice before serving, but no salt.
ÉPINARDS AU NATUREL
SPINACH WITH BUTTER
To prepare spinach for cooking, first swirl it round in a big basin of cold water, then pick out all the weeds, discard any badly wilted leaves and break off the coarse ends of the stalks. Remove all the spinach to a colander, rinse out the basin, refill it with cold water and plunge the spinach back into it, again swirling it round. This operation usually has to be repeated three or four times, especially with English spinach, which comes to market in a much muddier condition than French spinach, which is consequently worth its slightly higher price.
To cook the spinach, pack it into a saucepan, either with just the water left in from its washing or, which is perhaps preferable, just a small amount of boiling water. Add salt when the spinach has shrunk somewhat and stir with a wooden spoon to eliminate the danger of the underneath layer sticking to the saucepan: 7 to 10 minutes’ steady cooking is enough. Turn it into a colander, press a plate down on top of it and on this put a weight. Leave it 3 or 4 minutes, then with the edge of the plate (don’t use a valuable one) and with the spinach still in the colander, make a few chopping movements so that the leaves are roughly divided and more liquid flows out. Return the spinach to a clean pan in which a lump of butter has been melted and heat for a few seconds. This is épinards en branches or épinards au naturel. Allow 1 lb. of spinach for two people.
ÉPINARDS EN PURÉE
If the spinach is to be served as a purée, it can be left to drain until quite cool, then squeezed dry with the hands and either sieved or, better still, very finely chopped. It is then heated up in a double saucepan with rather a lot of butter. In fact, there is scarcely any limit to the amount of butter which spinach will absorb.
ÉPINARDS À LA CRÈME
SPINACH WITH FRESH CREAM
Thoroughly wash 3 lb. of spinach