Part 28

Keep the rows weeded with the Dutch hoe, and when the leaves wilt and give indications of ripening in July or August, pull the crop, let it dry for a couple of days, and store the bulbs for use in a dry place.

Shallots may also be raised from seed sown in March.

Shallots have a strong onion flavour, and are largely used for seasoning, and they make excellent pickle.

SORREL (Rumex Acetosa. Polygonaceæ).

Sow seed in spring, and thin out to six inches, or propagate by division of established plants in March or the beginning of April.

These perennial plants last for several years, and the leaves should be gathered singly. There are several varieties, and probably the Broad-leaved French Sorrel is as good as any. Sorrel is not sufficiently appreciated in this country. A few leaves make an excellent addition to a spring salad. We find it better to strip the leaves from the midrib and use the fragments for salads, discarding the midrib.

DISHES.

=Purée of Sorrel.=--Pick over and wash the sorrel several times, add a good handful of chervil, squeeze out any water, cook them for a moment in boiling water, take them out, and put them into cold water; drain again, then mince them up; put a piece of butter into a casserole with the sorrel, a good pinch of flour, salt, and pepper, pour over a little milk, and work in two or three eggs, well beaten, into the mixture little by little; put it in a dish, and garnish with hard-boiled eggs.

=Stewed Sorrel.=--After washing and cleaning some sorrel, boil till tender, then rub through a sieve, and put into a stewpan; add two tablespoonfuls of Béchamel sauce, with a little salt and sugar, and stew for a few minutes with one ounce of fresh butter, and serve.

=Sorrel Salad.=--Take the young leaves of sorrel, and after washing them, dry them, and treat them as other vegetables for salads.

=Sorrel and Vermicelli Soups.= See Soups.

SPINACH (Spinacia oleracea. Chenopodiaceæ).

In the small garden, spinach is chiefly of value as a late spring crop, coming in between the late broccoli and the early peas, and it may be treated as a catch-crop, sown from mid-February onwards till late March between successive rows of peas, or in similar situations. Sown at the same time as the peas, it will be well out of their way before they are in pod, or even full blossom.

For spring use, the round-seeded variety is usually sown, but its incurable habit of bolting into flower in hot soil or season induces many good gardeners to grow the sturdier prickly seeded sort both for spring and winter use. The seed should go into shallow drills, and the plants be thinned to nine inches in the rows. Thin sowing is recommended.

As a winter crop, prickly seeded spinach may be sown from mid-July to the end of August. The rows should be in the open, and fifteen inches apart, the plants thinned to six inches in the row. The earlier July sowings will give spinach during the autumn; the later, early in the spring or late in winter. As a rule, unless there be special liking for this crop, the small garden will hardly accommodate it except to the exclusion of more profitable and worthy subjects.

Spinach beet is a plant which will give many dishes of green stuff through the winter, if the gardener care to find room for it. Sown in April or March, where it is to stand, it should be in rows fifteen inches apart, the plants thinned to three inches. The larger leaves are gathered as required throughout winter and early spring, a succession of leaves coming on to replace those removed. Here, again, is a subject we scarce care to trouble to grow, but it has the merit of yielding well over a long period, and may come in usefully if the winter frosts have cut our brassicas about too cruelly.

=General Directions for Cooking Spinach.=--Spinach is apt to be gritty, so that great care is needed in preparing it. The leaves should be lifted out of the water and piled in a colander; in this way the sand is left at the bottom of the bowl. Repeat the process in several waters. Spinach shrinks very much in cooking, so that its bulk when cooked is very small compared to what it was when raw.

Spinach contains so much water that none should be used in cooking it. Take a gallon saucepan, and nearly fill it with well-washed spinach; put it at the side of the range, and stir very frequently with a wooden spoon. Soon the leaves will shrink, and enough liquid will have flowed from them to cover the greens. Add a small teaspoonful of salt and a piece of soda the size of a pea. Put on the lid, and let it simmer slowly for half an hour. Drain and press well before serving. It may be returned to the pan with a piece of butter and a sprinkle of pepper and well shaken for a minute.

=Spinach Puff.=--Chop some cooked spinach very fine, or rub it through a sieve, add a tablespoonful of butter melted, a little salt and pepper to taste, and to a pint of vegetable use a cupful of cream, the beaten yolks of two eggs, and the stiffly beaten whites of three eggs; mix in the latter carefully after all the other ingredients. Turn into a buttered dish, bake for twenty minutes in a hot oven. Serve in the dish in which it is cooked.

=Creamy Spinach.=--Cook the spinach, press it in a strainer, and then rub it through a wire sieve; put it into a saucepan, with a small piece of butter, one tablespoonful of milk, or preferably cream, stir while warming it up, add a little salt and pepper, and garnish with fried croûtons. Poached eggs may be served with it.

=Sweet Spinach.=--Clean your spinach and wash it several times; put in a good handful of chervil and a sprinkle of white pepper; let them drain dry, cook them for a few minutes in boiling water; take them out, and put them into cold water; drain them again dry, and chop them finely, and simmer in a casserole with a good piece of butter for a quarter of an hour. Add a very little salt and grated nutmeg and a little sugar, moisten with cream, stir. Serve very hot on a dish with fried croûtons and slices of hard-boiled eggs.

=Spinach Fritters.=--Chop finely or pass through a sieve one pound of cooked spinach, season with salt and pepper, and add the yolk of one egg, and sufficient bread-crumbs to make the mixture stiff. Form into flat round cakes, dip into frying batter, and cook in boiling fat. Serve with a garnish of scrambled eggs, or poached eggs.

=Spinach Soufflé.=--(1) Cook some spinach, rub it through a sieve, and add two or three well-beaten eggs, and a small quantity of milk with butter and salt. Mix it thoroughly, put it in a well-buttered soufflé dish, and bake for ten minutes. This makes a simple, yet tasty entrée.

(2) Mix a cupful of cooked chopped spinach with the well-beaten yolk of an egg, and stir over the fire until the egg is set. Cool, then fold in the stiffly beaten whites of three eggs. Fill a buttered baking dish, or individual soufflé dishes, and bake for a quarter of an hour. Serve immediately.

(3) Mix two tablespoonfuls of chopped cooked spinach with the beaten yolks of two eggs, a tablespoonful of melted butter, and salt and pepper to season. Cool, mix with two or three tablespoonfuls of cream and the stiffly beaten whites of three eggs. Turn into a buttered baking dish and bake immediately. The cream may be omitted, and milk used instead.

(4) Cook and chop a peck of spinach, add a well-beaten egg, a tablespoonful of butter, salt, sugar, and pepper to season. Cool, add two tablespoonfuls of cream. Mix thoroughly, and fold in the stiffly beaten whites of two eggs. Put in a buttered baking dish, sprinkle with sugar, cover for ten minutes, then uncover for five minutes, and serve immediately.

STACHYS TUBERIFERA. See Artichoke.

TOMATO (Solanum Lycopersicum. Solanaceæ).