How To Boil Spinach

One peck is enough for four persons. Pick it over very carefully - it is apt to be gritty; wash in several waters, and let it lie in the last half an hour, at least; take out with your hands, shaking each bunch well, and put into boiling water, with a little salt; boil from fifteen to twenty minutes. When tender, drain thoroughly, chop very fine, put in a sauce-pan with a piece of butter the size of an egg, and pepper to taste; stir until very hot, turn into a hot dish and shape nicely; slice some hard boiled eggs and lay on top.

Or, rub the yolks of four eggs to a powder, mix with butter, and when your mould is raised, spread smoothly over the flat top; cut the whites into rings and lay them on the yellow surface. This makes a very pleasant dressing for the spinach.

Spinach, A La Cream

Boil and chop very fine, or rub through a colander; season with pepper and salt; beat in, while warm, three tablespoonfuls melted butter (this is for a large dish); then put it into a sauce-pan and heat, stirring constantly. "When smoking hot, add three tablespoonfuls of cream and a teaspoonful of white sugar; boil up once, still stirring, and press firmly into a hot bowl. Turn into a hot dish, and garnish with sliced boiled eggs laid on top.

Baked Parsnips

Put four thin slices salt pork in a kettle with two quarts cold water, wash and scrape parsnips, and if large halve or quarter, and as soon as water boils place in a kettle, boil about half an hour, remove meat, parsnips, and gravy to dripping-pan, sprinkle with a little white sugar, and bake in oven half an hour, or until they are a light brown, and the water is all fried out. Add a few potatoes if you like.

Fried Parsnips

Par-boil or steam large parsnips, and then cut in slices lengthwise. Sprinkle each with a little flour, pepper and salt. Fry in equal parts of butter and lard.

Artichokes

Strip off the outer leaves, and cut the stalks close to the bottom. Wash well and lay in cold water two hours. Immerse in boiling water, the stalk ends uppermost, with an inverted plate upon them to keep them down. Boil an hour and a half, or until very tender; arrange upon a dish, the tops up, and pour drawn butter over them.

Asparagus

The green tops of this vegetable are very tender, and should not be cooked so long as the white part, which is hard. Cut off the tops as far down as they are tender and lay them in cold water. Then take the white part and pare off the hard part and cut in pieces about an inch long. Put them on to boil, and when nearly done, which will be in about half an hour, add the green tops and boil ten or fifteen minutes longer. Lay slices of toast in the bottom of the dish, drain the asparagus from the water. Season with butter, pepper and salt, and pour over the toast, and it is ready to serve.

Summer Squash

Wash the squash clean; it is the best plan to pare them unless they are extremely tender; tie them in a clean cloth, and put them into a pot of boiling water, and boil rapidly half an hour; take up and squeeze them well, turn into a hot dish, season with plenty of butter, salt and pepper, and serve at once.