Elegant Reine de Saba

Reine de Saba, or Queen of Sheba, is an elegant cake from Julia Child's THE FRENCH CHEF COOKBOOK. After watching Mrs. Child make the thing on her old show three times last week, I was eager to try her famous recipe. And I happened to have all the ingredients at hand, which is a rare occurrence when I want to follow someone else's recipe. This cake is not as complicated as it seems. I blanched, peeled and roasted the almonds lightly on Saturday, and made this Queen of Sheba cake on Easter Sunday. I will not be posting the recipe for Reine de Saba here at Elegant Cuisine, because there are many copies and interpretations of it on the internet. ©Jeanne "M-J" de Mesterton

M-J’s Elegant Spinach Salad

M-J’s Spinach Salad features bacon, toasted walnuts and Parmesan cheese, in a balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. ©M-J de Mesterton 2012

M-J’s Spinach Salad features bacon, toasted walnuts and Parmesan cheese, in a balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. ©M-J de Mesterton 2012

M-J’s Elegant Spinach and Artichoke Casserole

Assembling an Elegant Spinach and Artichoke Casserole: Line Bottom of Baking Pan with Butter. Spread with Artichoke Pieces and Fresh Spinach

Spinach and Artichoke Casserole is Topped with Cream Cheese and Mayonnaise Mixture, then Sprinkled with Grated Parmesan before Baking

LIST OF INGREDIENTS:

One tablespoon of butter, your preference

A 14-ounce can or two small jars of artichoke hearts such as Cara Mia brand (the jarred, pickled artichoke hearts are as appropriate for this recipe as the lightly-brined ones found in cans)–you will distribute half of these, broken into in pieces, at the bottom of an elegant baking dish, which has been spread with the tablespoon of butter. The other half will be used to dot the spinach leaves when they have been added to the baking dish.

A large bag, approximating half-a-pound, of raw, organic baby spinach (it can be found at Sam’s Club in a one-pound plastic tub from Taylor Organic of Salinas, California–I use half a Taylor tub for this recipe.) This baby spinach is almost always washed three times and ready-to-use, therefore I do not wash it a fourth time, as the spinach should be dry in the baking-dish to avoid being soggy. But, follow the directions on your bag of baby spinach to determine whether or not you need to wash and dry it. Arrange this baby spinach on top of the artichoke heart pieces. Evenly distribute the remaining artichoke pieces on top of the spinach-leaves.

Mix the following ingredients together and beat until smooth enough to pour over assembled artichokes and spinach, which have been arranged in a large baking dish:

One half-cup of mayonnaise, your choice of brand and style

Eight or more ounces of cream cheese, brought to room-temperature

One egg

One half-cup of buttermilk or regular milk

About one ounce, more or less according to your taste, of grated or shredded Parmesan cheese

White or Green Pepper, fine-ground

Ladle this creamy mixture over the spinach-artichoke assemblage. Top it with a bit of additional Parmesan cheese if desired, and bake for thirty minutes at 350F or a moderately hot oven. ©M-J de Mesterton

M-J's Elegant Spinach and Artichoke Casserole

>Elegant Japanese-Style Radish-Cucumber Salad

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This refreshing and elegant cucumber-radish salad is dressed with a rice wine vinegar-honey vinaigrette.