This section is from the book "The Bride's Cook Book", by Ralph P. Merritt. Also available from Amazon: Larousse Gastronomique.
The French people have used canned spinach for many years. It is but recently, however, that this delicious and healthful vegetable has been made available for all-year-round use in the American household. The DEL MONTE process of growing, cleaning, processing and canning spinach now brings you this fine food, ready for instant use, and better than you can prepare it fresh at home. Better, because it is packed fresh and crisp a few hours after cutting, with all its flavory, healthful properties, in model canneries near the fields where it grows. Packed in No. 2 and No. 2 1/2 cans. The recipes below call for the No. 2 1/2 size tin.
Equal parts of chopped DEL MONTE Canned Spinach and cottage cheese molded into flat cakes and served on lettuce with French dressing, make a delicious salad.
If spinach is drained when used from the can, the liquid should be utilized as stock for soup, as it is rich in the mineral salts for which this vegetable is noted. No food value should be wasted.
To use spinach from the can, heat in the double boiler, add 2 tablespoons of butter substitute, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Garnish with sliced hard cooked egg and serve with vinegar if desired.
Season chopped spinach well, mix with a chopped dill pickle and pack in molds, chill, turn out on lettuce and serve with mayonnaise.
Serve the poached eggs on spinach instead of toast. The food value is there and wheat is saved.
Make the delicious Italian ravioli with chopped spinach instead of meat.
Put a layer of spinach between the spaghetti or macaroni and the cheese for added flavor and food value. This is an excellent substitute for meat.
Sliced celery, boiled until tender and creamed with chopped spinach makes a dish, which, once tried, will make a frequent appearance at the luncheon or dinner table.
Hollow out the centers of onions for baking, chop, and mix with chopped spinach, return to the onions and bake as usual. This makes a delicious entree, or may be served as the main dish at luncheon.
Serve spinach heaped in a ring of Spanish onion on lettuce with any good salad dressing.
When serving spinach with chops, make a mound of the spinach and surround with the chops placed on end.
Potato salad served in nests of spinach makes an original and a delicious variation of a well known dish.
Make cucumber cups by hollowing out the inside of half a cucumber and cutting off the tip to allow the cup to stand. Chop the centers which have been removed, mix with chopped spinach and serve with mayonnaise.
Chopped spinach and chopped young beets served with a butter substitute sauce make a splendid vegetable combination for left overs.
Cut the left over conservation pastry in squares and put a heaping teaspoon-ful of chopped spieggnach in the center of each piece. Fold over, press together, brush with beaten , and brown in the oven.
To extend the left over spinach, chop and mix with any left over chopped meat and a few crumbs. Season with salt, pepper, and onion, garnish with hard cooked eggs, and serve hot.
 
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