Instructions: Both spinach and French beans are excellent cooked with no embellishment. I am not one of those who believe that spinach should be dry cooked in a pan with butter. I prefer to blanch it in large quantities of boiling salted water then drain and squeeze it. After this it should be very carefully cooked in lots of butter over a very slow heat and allowed to absorb the butter so that it becomes unctuous and soft. Lemon should never be squeezed over spinach because it goes brown quickly. The only flavours one should add are small quantities of garlic a little salt pepper and nutmeg. If water keeps oozing out of the spinach while it is cooked it should be drained well. Before serving tip on to some kitchen paper. This way it hardly needs either meat or fish to accompany it but becomes a meal in itself The first rule to remember when cooking French beans is never to cook them in large quantities. There isnt a flame strong enough even on a catering stove to boil water sufficiently fiercely. Beans must cook before they start to lose their colour and the only way to do this is when the ratio of the beans to water is very low. The second rule is that you must cool them down as fast as possible. You therefore need to have ready ice cold water preferably water with lots of ice cubes floating in it. And the only way to enjoy their full flavour is to cook beans to a point just before they are ready to come apart. Dont make the mistake of leaving beans al dente. That way you lose fifty per cent of the taste. I also prefer not to top and tail the beans with a knife but to snap the ends oflf by hand. Butter garlic salt and pepper and/or very very finely chopped shallots can be used to flavour them. Served cold with the right dressing they make a delicious salad

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