Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (154 page)

1 cup minced onions

3 Tb olive oil

An 8-inch, heavy-bottomed no-stick or enameled frying pan

Optional: 1 to 2 large cloves garlic, mashed

2 cups blanched, chopped spinach (2 lbs. fresh spinach boiled 3 minutes, drained, squeezed dry, and chopped)

2 Tb flour

1 cup hot milk, more if needed

Salt and pepper to taste

2 to 4 Tb heavy cream

Cook the onions in the oil for 8 to 10 minutes or more until tender and just beginning to brown lightly. Add optional garlic and cook for a few seconds, then stir in the spinach and cook over moderate heat, stirring, for 2 minutes. Blend in the flour and stir over moderate heat for 2 minutes more. Remove pan from heat; gradually blend in the milk. Set again over heat, bring to the simmer, stirring, and add seasonings to taste. Simmer slowly over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to be sure spinach is not sticking to pan. Spinach is done when it is tender and has absorbed the milk. (If you are doing other greens you may have to cook them longer, and add a little more milk.) Just before serving, taste carefully for seasoning and stir in the cream, a tablespoon at a time.

(*)
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE
: Set spinach aside after it has simmered in the milk; smooth it with a rubber spatula and spread 2 tablespoons of cream over it. Reheat and finish seasoning just before serving.

PUMPKINS AND SQUASHES

Courges et Courgettes

Before Columbus sailed back from his famous voyage of 1492 the squash family was unknown in Europe. The only written accounts date from after his return, and this seems as good a reason as any to trace the origin of squash from the Americas. Our word, “squash,” is of Algonquin origin; the Latin generic is
Cucurbita
, and the French,
courge.
Hard-shell, mature, yellow-fleshed varieties like Hubbard, turban, acorn squash, and even pumpkin come under the popular heading of winter squashes,
courges
, while the soft-shell,
tender-seeded types like zucchini, yellow crooknecks, and pattypans are called summer squashes,
courgettes.
However, winter squash is available in August, and summer squash can be found in December as well as June. Our main emphasis here will be on summer squash, particularly zucchini, but we shall start off with a prize pumpkin.

LE POTIRON TOUT ROND

[Stuffed Pumpkin or Pumpkin Soup Served in a Pumpkin]

In France a
potiron
is any member of the squash family including the
citrouille
, which is a pumpkin-like yellow-fleshed squash tasting like our Hubbard and acorn squashes. Thus you can never be quite sure whether you are getting in France what we would call pumpkin or what we would call squash; many’s the bride who has tried to duplicate her French mother-in-law’s famous
potage au potiron
and finds that the secret ingredient which gave that wonderful flavor was squash rather than pumpkin. Use American pumpkin for this recipe, which can be either a soup or the starchy vegetable to go with turkey, goose, duck, pork, or game birds. Cooked and served in the pumpkin itself, this always makes an amusing presentation.

As a vegetable serving 6 to 8

1½ cups (pressed down) fresh white crumbs from nonsweetened homemade-type white bread

A roasting pan

A fine, hard, unblemished 4-lb. pumpkin (about 6 inches in diameter) with 2-inch stem

1 Tb soft butter

Salt

Spread the bread crumbs in the roasting pan and let them dry out in a 300-degree oven, stirring occasionally; this will take about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, with a short, stout knife, cut a cover 4 inches in diameter out of the top of the pumpkin. Scrape all the stringy material and seeds from cover and inside of pumpkin (an ice-cream spoon and grapefruit knife are useful for this). Rub inside of pumpkin and the cover with the soft butter and sprinkle lightly with salt.

⅔ cup finely minced onions

6 Tb butter

An 8-inch frying pan

½ tsp salt

Pinch of pepper and nutmeg

½ tsp ground sage

½ cup finely diced or coarsely grated Swiss cheese

2 to 2¼ cups light cream

1 bay leaf

A shallow lightly buttered baking/serving dish to hold the pumpkin

While bread crumbs are drying, cook the onions in the butter for 8 to 10 minutes over low heat until tender and translucent. Then stir in the crumbs and let them cook slowly for 2 minutes to absorb the butter. Stir in seasonings and sage. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese, then spoon the mixture into the pumpkin. Pour in the cream, adding enough so
mixture comes to within ½ inch of pumpkin rim. Lay bay leaf on top and replace cover.

(*)
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE
: May be prepared in advance to this point.

Baking and serving—baking time about 2 hours

Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven for about 1½ hours, until pumpkin is beginning to soften on the outside and the inside is beginning to bubble. Reduce oven thermostat to 350 and bake another half hour until pumpkin is tender but still holds its shape solidly. (If pumpkin is browning too much, cover loosely with foil or brown paper.)

(*)
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE
: May be kept warm in a 200-degree oven for half an hour at least.

To serve, remove cover and dip into pumpkin with a long-handled spoon, scraping flesh off bottom and sides of pumpkin with each serving of the filling.

Pumpkin Soup

Use a 6- to 7-pound pumpkin and the same ingredients, except replace the cream with enough chicken stock to come within ½ inch of rim. Stir half a cup or so of heavy cream and a handful of chopped parsley into soup just before serving.

ZUCCHINI — AND OTHER SUMMER SQUASHES

Courgettes

Zucchini, the familiar almost cucumber-shaped green squash that is on the market all year, is our main concern here, although you may substitute yellow crooknecks or straightnecks, or the striped, green, zucchini-like
cocozelle
in any of the recipes. Scallop or pattypan squash (
patisson
) may also be adapted, particularly in the recipes for stuffed zucchini.

HOW TO BUY AND STORE SUMMER SQUASHES

When you are buying summer squash, look for obviously fresh, clean specimens that feel heavy, are firm to the touch all over, and have skin so tender you can pierce it easily with a fingernail. Fully edible summer squashes
are immature: when you cut them open the seeds are soft and the tissue surrounding the seeds is moist and crisp. In all of these squashes, except for the giant crookneck, size indicates quality. Beware of foot-long zucchini, crook- and straightnecks over 10 inches,
cocozelles
more than 8 inches, pattypans that exceed 4 inches in diameter. However, if you do find yourself with slightly overage squashes, you can peel them if the skin seems tough, quarter them lengthwise, and cut out the pulpy core and tough seeds; use only the moist, crisp flesh between skin and core. Store summer squashes in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, where they will keep for a week to 10 days if very fresh.