Part 11

=Cardoons with Cheese and Sauce.=--Prepare the cardoons as above, then put them one by one in a saucepan with one ounce of fresh butter. Salt them a little and add about three-quarters of an ounce of parsley, and a little Béchamel sauce, lastly add an ounce of grated cheese. Cook them thoroughly, and serve hot.

=Cardoons with Oil.=--Wash and string the cardoons, half boil in salted water, then plunge them into cold water. Cut them into pieces about two inches long, flour well, and put them in a saucepan with boiling pure olive oil; salt and pepper to taste. Beat up two or more eggs according to the quantity of cardoons. When they are slightly brown on both sides drain and dish them, and pour the eggs over them. Put in the oven for a few minutes till the eggs are set. Serve hot.

CARROT (Daucus Carota. Umbelliferæ).

The earliest carrots should be sown in frames on a good hotbed early in November. At least four inches of a good, light, sandy compost should be placed over the surface of the bed. Many sow broadcast, thinning the plants to half an inch distance when well up. We prefer to sow in rows four inches apart, and to sow forcing radishes between, but very thinly. The radishes will be a most welcome crop, and will come in and be cleared away long before the carrots. Plenty of air and plenty of moisture must be given; on warm days the lights may be quite off the frames for an hour or two, but frost must be excluded. Thin rigorously to half an inch or rather more, and a delicious crop of young carrots will be harvested in February and March.

A second hotbed started in January will carry the cook on until the early outdoor varieties come in.

The first outdoor sowing should be of such a variety as French Horn on a warm well-drained border in February. The main crop sowings are made in April and May. The carrot does best in a sandy loam, with no recent manure in the top spit, but some good old stuff in the bottom of the trench is desirable. Sow in drills a foot apart; thin first to one inch, then draw the next lot just as they are, as thick as a finger; they will never be better; leave the rest four to six inches apart. Keep the Dutch hoe going between the rows and harvest in August or September. There is no object in keeping carrots in the ground after the tops have died down; in fact, if showery weather sets in the roots are likely to start into growth again and split and spoil. Store for winter use in sand in a cool cellar.

CARROT DISHES.

=Carrot Pudding.=--One pound of boiled carrots, half their bulk in bread-crumbs, two eggs, pepper and salt, two ounces of butter, and some white sauce. Boil the carrots till soft, chop them small, rub them through a sieve, add the bread-crumbs and butter and eggs sufficient to bind the whole together, with seasoning to taste. If eggs are not used, a couple of teaspoonfuls of flour and a little milk should be put in. Butter a pudding basin, put in the mixture, steam for two hours according to size. Turn out the pudding, and serve with white sauce poured round it.

=Carrot Soufflé.=--Take a quarter of a pound of boiled carrots, rub through a sieve, add a tablespoonful of Parmesan cheese, two tablespoonfuls of tomato sauce, and some butter and seasoning, and mix well together. Place in soufflé dishes, sprinkle with butter and bread-crumbs and brown in the oven.

=Carrots sauté à la Française.=--Scrape and wash a dozen young carrots, cover with cold salted water, and boil until tender. Drain and fry brown in butter, adding a pinch of sugar. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with minced parsley and lemon juice if desired, and serve very hot.

=Spring Carrots.=--Trim and scrape two bunches of spring carrots. Parboil for ten minutes in salted water to cover. Drain and rinse in cold water. Put into a deep baking dish, with two tablespoonfuls each of butter and sugar, and two cupfuls of milk or vegetable stock. Cover and cook slowly, until tender. Drain, reduce the liquid by rapid boiling, and thicken with a little flour, and season; pour over the carrots, and serve.

=Carrot Soup.=--Put eight or ten finely sliced carrots, one onion, two heads of celery sliced, five ounces of fresh white haricot beans, four ounces of butter, and salt and pepper to taste, in a saucepan. Cook over a slow fire for one hour, and stir from time to time. Then add about three pints of good stock, boil one and a half hours, and rub through a sieve. Add half an ounce of sugar, and serve with croûtons (fried bread). If too thick, add a little stock at intervals.

=Boiled Carrots.=--Cook peeled and sliced carrots in salted boiling water to cover, for one hour and a half or less, according to age and size of the carrots. Drain, and serve with melted butter.

=Stewed Carrots.=--(1) Cook a quart of very young carrots, cut into dice, in boiling salted water until tender, and drain. Thicken the cooking liquid with flour rolled in butter. Season with pepper and sugar, reheat the carrots in the sauce, and serve.

(2) Parboil a bunch of carrots, drain, and cut into dice. Put into a saucepan with two small onions chopped, pepper, salt, and minced parsley to season, and enough drawn butter to moisten. Simmer for half an hour, and serve.

(3) Wash and scrape whole carrots, and soak them for half an hour in cold water. Drain and cook for forty-five minutes in salted water to cover. Drain, cut into thin slices or dice, and cook for half an hour in stock to cover, season with pepper and salt. Add four tablespoonfuls of cream or milk and a tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour. Bring to the boil and serve. Water may be used instead of stock if another tablespoonful of butter is added.

=Carrots Stewed in Cream.=--Wash and slice enough carrots to make two cupfuls. Simmer until nearly tender in stock to cover. Add a cupful of cream, thicken with a tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

=Carrots Sauté.=--Cut scraped spring carrots into thin slices, and cook until tender in water to cover. Drain and reheat in butter, seasoning with sugar, pepper, and salt. Do not allow the carrots to fry. Sprinkle with minced parsley and powdered chervil before serving. The chervil may be omitted.

=Barley Soup and Carrots.=--Take half a cup of pearl barley, three tomatoes, three small carrots, three small onions, one potato, one teaspoonful of brown sugar. Put three pints of water into a saucepan, add the barley, the sugar, and the tomatoes peeled and cut into small pieces. Stew gently for four hours, adding more water if necessary. Cut into small dice the three small carrots and the three small onions, fry with darlene or other vegetable fat to a golden brown, add to the soup one large potato cut into dice about half an hour before serving, also the fried vegetables.

=Carrot Croquettes.=--Boil some carrots till tender in two waters. Mash them smooth, add a beaten egg, a large spoonful of melted butter, pepper and salt to taste, and set the paste aside to become cool enough to handle. Form into croquettes with the hands; egg, and roll into fine crumbs, let them stand in a cool place half an hour, and fry in deep fat to a good brown.

=Carrots and Peas.=--Cook separately until tender, diced young carrots and green peas. Drain, mix, and season with salt and pepper, reheat in white, Béchamel, or cream sauce, or melted butter.

=Compôte of Young Carrots and Green Peas.=--Clean and cut into dice just enough carrots to make two cupfuls. Cook until tender in salted water, drain, and reserve half a cupful of the carrot liquid; mix the carrots with an equal quantity of cooked green peas, sprinkle with two tablespoonfuls of flour, add two tablespoonfuls of butter, salt and pepper and sugar to season, add half a cupful of carrot liquid and half a cupful of stock, or use a cupful of either. Cook until smooth and thick, stirring constantly. Sprinkle with minced parsley, and serve. Carrots and peas may also be served with a sweet or sour sauce.

=Carrots and Asparagus.=--Reheat in milk, or white stock, equal quantities of sliced cooked carrot, and cooked asparagus cut into small pieces. Thicken with flour, and add the yolk of an egg well beaten. Season with salt, pepper, butter, and minced parsley.

=Carrot Timbâles.=--Cook four peeled and sliced carrots until tender in stock to cover. Drain and mash, add two eggs well-beaten, salt, pepper, and grated onion to season, and a tablespoonful of cream; mix thoroughly. Put into small buttered timbâle moulds, stand them in a baking pan half full of boiling water, cover with buttered paper, and bake for twenty minutes, and turn out carefully, and surround the border with cooked peas, and serve.

=Stewed Carrots.=--Take two dozen small carrots, wash and scrape them, and put into a saucepan with one ounce of loaf sugar, two onions, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a bay leaf, add a few spoonfuls of vegetable broth, and stew until the carrots are tender. Remove the carrots, strain the stock over them, add two tablespoonfuls of cream, make it hot, and pour this over the carrots, and serve.

=Carrots à la Flamande.=--Trim a bunch of young carrots, cover with boiling water, and let them stand for five minutes. Drain, rub off the skins with a coarse cloth, cut them into thin slices, and cook until tender in a cupful of water, with a tablespoonful of butter, salt and pepper to season. Take from the fire and add the yolks of two eggs, well beaten, with a cupful of cream and a tablespoonful of minced parsley. Heat gradually until smooth and thick, stirring constantly, but do not let it boil. Serve as soon as the sauce is smooth. A little sugar and grated nutmeg may be added, and half a cupful of cream and milk used.

=Carrots à la Lilloise.=--Peel, and cut into very thin slices two bunches of spring carrots, put into a saucepan with salted boiling water to cover. Add a teaspoonful or more of sugar and a tablespoonful of butter, cover, and cook for half an hour. Add the yolks of three eggs beaten with half a cupful of cream, a tablespoonful of butter broken into small pieces, and heat slowly until the sauce is smooth and thick. Sprinkle with minced parsley before serving.

=Carrots à la Majestic.=--Cut, peel, and trim some carrots into fancy shapes with French vegetable cutters. Cook in butter without burning. Moisten from time to time with water seasoned with pepper and salt and powdered sugar. Before serving add a little melted butter and sprinkle with minced parsley.