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Consomme Spinach
Wash the leaves from a pint of spinach, put into a dry kettle, and sprinkle with a saltspoonful of salt; put at first over a moderate heat till the spinach softens, then push over to a hotter part of the stove and stir for five minutes; drain, chop fine, and press through a sieve; mix with this a well-beaten egg, a drop of Tabasco, and a saltspoonful salt. Put this into shallow pan, set it in another of boiling water, and cook in the oven until solid. Cut into fancy shapes, put into soup tureen, and turn over the seasoned hot stock.
This is not a soup but a garnish: a savoury spinach custard, set in a water bath, cut into shapes and floated in clear consommé at the moment of serving. The whole point is that the stock stays clear, so everything green happens in a separate pan.
- SaltspoonfulA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon. Two are called for in total, one for wilting the spinach and one for the custard.
- A pint of spinachA dry-measure pint of raw leaves, loosely packed — only a couple of ounces of modern bagged spinach, since the leaves weigh almost nothing. It cooks down to a few tablespoons of puree, which is all you need.
- Wilting without waterThe leaves go into a dry pan and steam in the water clinging to them after washing. Moderate heat first, then higher for the five minutes of stirring; on a modern hob that is medium, then medium-high. Do not add liquid.
- Press through a sieveAfter chopping, force the spinach through a fine sieve so no fibre remains. A small food processor followed by a sieve gives a smoother custard than chopping alone, and lumps show badly against clear stock.
- Oven and water bathThe recipe gives no temperature: it says only to set the pan in boiling water and cook until solid. For an egg custard in a bain-marie a slow oven, in the region of 300 to 325F, will do, and a shallow layer half an inch deep is likely to take somewhere around 20 to 30 minutes. Take it out when the centre is just set — overcooked egg custard weeps and goes grainy.
- Depth mattersPour the mixture no more than half an inch deep. Any thicker and the shapes will not float or cut cleanly, and the outside overcooks before the middle sets.
- Cutting the shapesChill the set custard, run a knife round the edge, turn it out, and cut with small aspic cutters or a knife into diamonds. Warm the shapes briefly in a little hot stock before they go into the tureen so they do not cool the soup.
- The stockNothing here clarifies the consomme, so it must already be clear and well seasoned. The recipe gives no yield; a pint of spinach and one egg make a small quantity of garnish.