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Spinach, Dressed

Pick the leaves from the stems, wash them well, and throw them into a large saucepan, and salt them. If old, the spinach must have a little boiling water with it. Boil fast for ten minutes, then strain on the back of a sieve or colander; press the spinach in a napkin, and squeeze out all the water that remains. Put the spinach into a stewpan with a little butter, pepper and salt, and about ten minutes before serving place it on the stove to be made hot; add about half a cupful of cream, pile the spinach on the dish, and send to table. "When spinach," says M. Ude, "is dressed to put under meat, whether fricandeau or sweetbread, etc., it must be more highly seasoned than when dressed for entremets, and a little more liquid, as it is like sauce. Spinach is often used in sweet dishes to dye the almonds or make the green colour of the marbled biscuit. Pound in the mortar some of the spinach, and squeeze the juice out of it by pressing it through a towel; put the liquor into a small stewpan, and place the stewpan in a hot-water bath to poach. When the green is settled at the bottom of the stewpan, drain it through a silk sieve, and use it for almonds, or whatever else requires green."