ROUND THE TABLE

Greens on toast : Cut some croutons of bread in the shape of a cutlet, fry them in butter; having parboiled the cabbages or greens, arrange them in neat little pieces or heads to fit each piece of bread ; stew them in some Spanish sauce, or in a well-devised brown sauce. When done lay each piece of greenmeat on its corresponding sippet of bread. Pour the sauce on the dish, and dispose the greens in a circle over it.

That most vulgar greenmeat Turnip Tops, can also be dressed as above, but these can be made to assume a more artistic appearance by being reduced to a puree, the process being this : Boil thoroughly, in plenty of water, with salt and soda in due proportions, drain, and pass through a hair sieve. Melt a piece of butter, to which add a little flour and the pulp of your turnip-tops ; stir on the fire a few minutes, adding a little milk or cream and a little broth or stock, with pepper and grated nutmeg to taste. When of a nice consistency, not too thick, dress on a dish as you would spinach, and serve with fried sippets of bread round it. If properly cooked this dish has a better colour than spinach, and a very pleasant nutty bitter taste, which I some- times think preferable to that of spinach for a change. The sieve to be used should be a strong horsehair one, as wire sieves are apt to impart a bad taste, especially in the case of vegetables containing strong acids, such as sorrel.

Sorrel should be treated exactly as above, only it should not be so thick as spinach, but have the consistency more of a thick sauce or puree. It is generally not served by itself, but under a piece of stewed veal or veal cutlets. The pleasant acidity of a puree of sorrel goes very well with veal, and it is made more attractive by the addition of the yolks of one or more eggs stirred into it with the

VEGETABLES.

milk or cream ; in tliis case, however, it is not necessary to put in any broth or stock.

A puree of sorrel, made rather thick, may be served by itself, with poached or fried eggs disposed upon it, or simply hard boiled eggs cut into quarters. By using spinach instead of sorrel you have another very good dish.

Spinach is prepared by exactly the same process as turnip-tops, and there are several other vegetables which, similarly treated, are a very good substitute for it. The leaves of the white beet, and even those of the common beetroot, and also watercresses, make very good sub- stitutes for spinach. The young shoots of nettles may also be used.

A skilful cook will produce very artistic purees or dishes of the nature of spinach by the judicious combination of spinach, sorrel, white-beet, water-cress, chervil, lettuce, and endive. A head of lettuce thrown in with spinach or sorrel, when it is put to boil in the first instance, is always an improvement.

With endive alone a very good puree can be made thus : Boil some endive in salted water, drain it and

pass it through a hair sieve. Melt a piece of butter in a saucepan, add a little flour, then endive pulp, pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg to taste. Let the whole give a boil, then stir in off the fire the yolks of one or two eggs beaten up with a little milk and strained, as well as some parsley or some chervil finely minced. This puree may also be coloured with some

Spinach greening. — This preparation can be bought cheaply enough of any Italian warehouseman, but if you wish to make it at home the proceeding is this : Pound

a quantity of spinach in a mortar, put the pulp in a cloth, and, by twisting it at both ends, extract the juice,