Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-07-22
Soup of the Evening" Comes
In Many a Simple Guise
By The Victory Chef.

How do you cook spinach?" may
we ask. Most Americans cook 1t In
some water. OF course, the water,
when the cooked spinach is re-
moved, goes right down the handy
old drain. We've heard something
or other about all the vitamins which
60 down alcngside-but just what
can we do about 1t?
We've read some place or other
about the thrifty French housewife
and her soup pot but all we have on
hand is small quantity Of spinach
water. Well, let's not pour it down
the drain right now-let's see what
we have after dinner? And then,
what have we? Well, little Petsy
did not want to eat any spinach, SO
there's about half a cupful left. Not
enough spinach to use for another
meal. Discouraging, but then what?
Now, here we 60 and we'll have
fun, because we're going to make a
grand cream of spinach soup which
will be the core of tomorrow nights
dinner. And what do you think Of
that?
First OF all, We'll take all the
spinach water and cook it down or
reduce it to about three cups. Then
we'll put the leftover spinach
through a sieve and work it into a
smooth pulp, mixing it with the
spinach water If this mixture seems
a little weak, we'll dissolve a bouillon
cube and add it for strength. Or If
We have a little leftover chicken or
veal broth, we can use that.
Nothing more to do now than to
make up our standard base for eco
nomical and wholesome cream soups
and, figuring on enough soup for
four generous portions, we make a
white sauce. using two tablespoons
of -four rubbed together with two of
butter or ether cooking fat and
using this mixture to thicken four
cups of milk to heavy creamy con-
sistency Now combine the cream
sauce with the spinach broth. Sea-
son. Reheat. Give this mixture a
quick dose of your rotary egg beater
and serve.
Serve with fried bread cubes
sprinkled on top. Or use a generous
pinch of chopped parsley. Or top
with spoonful of sour cream.
A good idea in making the cream
sauce is to do the whole job in the
top of double boiler. You'll prob
ably have smoother, more profess
sional sauce and then, too, you'll
get better mixing in the double
boiler when you add the vegetable
liquid. You may finish the soup
entirely in the top of the double
boiler, but if you wish, heat it
faster over the direct f1ame-and
take chance of possible separa-
ton or "curdling" in some cases.
1t is well to remember that the
handy rotary egg beater is the life
saver of many a cream soup. In
cidentally. with it, you side-step the
film which is apt to form on top
a flip of the beaten and the film
disappears.
But the main thing is this-out
Of what would usually be 100 per
cent waste, we have built the main
course of complete dinner-and
a good cream soup is a most de-
licious main course.
With it, serve freshly made toast
or saltines. With it or right after
it, vegetable salad is most ap-
pealing and ENJOYABLE. And then
the well-known green apple pie,
along about this time OF the year.
You'll be saving ration points
with a vengeance and piling up
credits for company dinner.
But don't stop with spinach. A
cream of onion comes along in the
same way-using the water in
which a mess of onions have been
boiled. Help out with one or two