s:
Take a large handful of fresh green spinach, wash it, and remove decayed
leaves only; drain well, then pound in a mortar or chopping-bowl until
quite mashed. Let it stand a quarter of an hour, then squeeze the mass
in a cloth, and put the green water into a cup, which set over the fire
in a small saucepan of water; watch the scum rise; when it stands quite
thick at the top and turns a vivid green, remove at once (if it remains
on the fire after this the green darkens); pour the contents of the cup
through cheese-cloth or thin muslin laid in a strainer. The scum that
remains is your coloring matter. It must be carefully scraped off with a
spoon, and mix with the custard only as much as is required to give a
delicate green tint. If any is left it may be mixed with an equal
quantity of salt and put away; it loses color, however, after a few
days.

The colored custards must be set in water, a small piece of buttered
paper over each, and the water allowed to boil gently round them till
they are firm. Let them get quite cold; then cut them into cubes or
diamonds.

_Profiterolles._--Perhaps the next in popularity of these floating
garnishes are _profiterolles_, or "prophet's rolls," as cooks call them.
They are made exactly like those intended for dessert, omitting
sweetening of course, and a very small quantity is required, as they
must be dropped no larger than a pea, and baked a _pale_ fawn-color.

Put a gill of water and a pinch of salt and two ounces of butter in a
small saucepan; as soon as they begin to boil draw the saucepan back and
stir in four ounces of flour; beat well over the fire with a wooden
spoon until it becomes a soft paste, then add the yolks of two eggs and
white of one, beating each yolk in separately. It will be seen that the
paste is similar to that made for cream cakes.

A similar garnish is made in the following way: Beat an egg with a pinch
of salt, and then stir in as much dry sifted flour as the egg will
moisten; work it well with the hands till it is elastic, although stiff.
Roll it on a pastry board until it is as thin as paper, then roll it on
a clean linen cloth still thinner, and leave it a quarter of an hour to
dry. Then fold the paste, press it very tightly together, and with a tin
cylinder, not larger in diameter than a cent, cut out, with considerable
pressure, as many small disks as you require to allow five or six to
each plate of soup. Have ready in a small saucepan some _smokin