Part 38

=Minestra of Vegetables= (Spanish Recipe).--Prepare and cut up coarsely the following:--Two carrots, two turnips, two leeks, two onions, four small pumpkins, half a tin of tomatoes, two sweet Spanish allspice, or a little cayenne pepper. Put ten tablespoonfuls of oil in a saucepan, add the onions and leeks, and let them simmer for ten minutes; add the other vegetables. Cut up and add a handful of Haricot Verts, and peel a handful of white Haricots, and the same amount of “petit pois.” Mix the whole together; cover with good white gravy or one pint of water, and cook for an hour on a slow fire till the liquid is reduced; season with salt, and serve hot. It is an improvement if two tablespoonfuls of rice or the same quantity of broken macaroni is added and cooked with the vegetables. This makes a very nourishing dish.

=Nettle Soup.=--Take quite young nettles, well washed, and treat them like spinach. Boil them; keep a little of the water in which they were boiled, and mix with it milk and a little cream. Season to taste, and thicken with a little cornflour mixed smooth in cold water.

=Norwegian Bread.=--One pint of barley meal, one half pint of Graham flour, one half pint of flour, one teaspoonful of salt, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, one pint of milk. Bake in a moderate oven for forty minutes or longer.

=Nut Bread.=--Two cups of flour, one half teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of baking powder, one cup of finely chopped peanuts, one cup of milk, one half cup of sugar, two eggs, one teaspoonful of butter. Sift the baking powder, flour and salt and sugar into a bowl, add the peanuts, which have been put through a meat chopper. Beat the eggs, add the milk and stir into the flour, and mix well. Put in an earthenware dish, or a flat cake tin that has been brushed with melted butter; bake in a moderate oven thirty to thirty-five minutes. This is best when a day old, cut in thin slices. It makes very good sandwiches. (Philadelphia North American.)

=Nut Omelette.=--One egg, a tablespoonful of milk, a dessertspoonful of grated or flaked pine kernels or walnuts; heat the egg, add milk and nuts; put a piece of nutter lard, or butter made with nuts, into the omelette pan (or frying pan), and when the fat boils, pour the mixture in, and keep shaking until set. Roll up with a fish slice, and serve on a hot dish immediately.--Nu-Era Recipes, GEORGE SAVAGE AND SONS.

=Nut Sandwiches.=--Beat a quarter of a pound of butter to a cream with the back of a wooden spoon; add two ounces of caster sugar, three yolks of eggs, three ounces of blanched and grated nuts of any kind, and the well beaten whites of three eggs. Mix all thoroughly, and bake in a sandwich tin for twenty minutes.

=Oat Cream.=--Heat a pint of milk until nearly boiling, sift into it half a pint of rolled oats, keeping it well stirred; simmer for fifteen minutes, then strain. The oat cream should be sucked through straws. (Dr. Oldfield’s Recipe.)

=Œufs à la Polignac.=--Butter some cups well, next put in at the bottom of the cups a mince of finely chopped herbs, add a finely chopped shallot if liked. Break one egg into each cup, add a little seasoning; steam till set, but not too hard. Be very careful not to break the eggs when turning them out on fried croûtons. Serve with savoury sauce round and under the crusts; tomato sauce is very good for this.

=Orange Omelette.=--Peel and slice in long strips three oranges, and dust a little sugar over them; beat the yolks of three eggs, and stir into them two tablespoonfuls of sugar, the same of orange juice, and the grated rind of two oranges; add to this mixture the well-whipped whites of the eggs, and place quickly in a hot buttered omelette pan. When the omelette is set and commencing to brown, lay the slices of orange on the top, fold over, and serve at once with caster sugar sprinkled over.

=Pillau with Koftas= (Indian Dish).--For the Pillau, a pound of rice boiled in three pints of water with two ounces of butter, one small onion, two heads of garlic, twelve cloves, and eight cardamom seeds, which give a spicy flavour; the rice is boiled until soft. Mix with the koftas two cupfuls of chopped onion, a head of garlic, and half a teaspoonful of mixed spices. The mixture is then formed into cutlets, dipped in bread-crumbs, and fried a golden brown. Sliced onions fried a pale brown, fried sultanas, fried almonds, and hard-boiled eggs cut into rings, are used to garnish this dish.

=Potato Cake= (French Recipe).--Put in a casserole a pound of mealy potatoes, peeled and cooked, add a little salt, some grated rind of lemon, a piece of fresh butter, a little cream, and three ounces of powdered sugar, stirring continually, and beating the potatoes smooth with the back of a wooden spoon. Let it cool, put in a little orange-flower water, the whole of eight eggs well-beaten to a froth; mix all well, and form into a cake, cook it in a well-buttered pie-dish in a baking oven. The time depends on the heat of the oven, from half to three-quarters of an hour.

=President’s Brownies.=--One cupful of sugar, half a cupful of butter beaten to a cream, two eggs well beaten, half a cupful of walnuts chopped, two squares of chocolate grated, half a cupful of flour. Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl, add the eggs; sift in the flour, mixing carefully; add the walnuts and chocolate. Bake in a shallow tin, garnishing the top with the walnuts.

=Prune Bread.=--One heaped cupful of prunes, one quart of whole wheat flour, one pint of Graham flour (or self-raising flour), one teaspoonful of salt, one tablespoonful of sugar, one compressed yeast cake, or one ounce of yeast; of lukewarm milk and lukewarm water, about half a pint. Wash the prunes, and soak them overnight in water to cover. In the morning stone and chop finely. Mix flour, salt and sugar together in a basin. Add the yeast cake dissolved in a little lukewarm water. Allow to sponge for ten minutes in a warm place, out of a draught. Pour in the milk and mix quickly; knead for five minutes, and set it to rise for half an hour. Add the chopped prunes and make up into one large, or two small loaves; set them to rise again and bake in a moderate oven until done--one hour for a large loaf, three-quarters if made into small loaves--probably; but this depends on the heat of the oven.

=Pumpkin Brown Bread.=--Two cups of pumpkin juice, three cups of yellow cornmeal, three cups of ryemeal, half a cupful of molasses, one teaspoonful of salt two cupfuls of milk, and one teaspoonful of baking soda. Mix these ingredients together, beat well, and turn into a buttered tin. Cover with buttered paper and steam for five hours. (San Francis Call.)

=Purée of Vegetables.=--Cook potatoes, carrots, onions, and turnips together in stock to cover; season with salt, pepper, spices, and sweet herbs. Press through a sieve, thicken with butter and flour. Cook together. Take from the fire, and add the yolks of two eggs beaten up with a little milk added.

=Radish Salad.=--A good radish salad calls for three bunches of round red radishes. Put them in cold water in a refrigerator for an hour. Ten minutes before serving wipe them dry, and cut them in fine slices. Slice also two small onions. Put them in layers in a salad bowl with minced parsley, and dress them with oil and vinegar. (Chicago Journal.)

=Raspberry Omelette.=--Beat the yolks of five eggs lightly with one teaspoonful of fine sugar; put in two teaspoonfuls of corn-starch mixed with four tablespoonfuls of cream. Then add the whites of the eggs whipped stiffly. Cook in a frying pan until set; spread with raspberry jam. Finally sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve hot as a dessert.

=Raviolles Milanaises.=--Make a good nouille paste with two ounces of flour and the yolks of four or five eggs and salt. Let it stand a little, and then roll out very thin. Chop up some mushrooms and fry slightly in butter; thicken with spinach or brown sauce only. When cold put the mixture in little heaps on half of the rolled-out paste, wet the paste with a brush between the heaps; double the paste over and press it to make it stick together; then cut out with a pastry cutter, cutting along the lines between the heaps into squares. Cook these in boiling water and then leave them to drain; add a good sauce--half brown, half tomato--and grated cheese. Serve.

=Red Pottage= (Danish Recipe).--Well boil the fruit (red currants, raspberries, plums, or rhubarb), sweeten it, and add a little grated lemon rind. Pour through a colander to obtain the juice only. Put back the juice into the pan, and directly it boils stir in cornflour previously dissolved in a little of the juice (one heaped dessertspoon of cornflour to half a pint of juice). Pour into a glass dish, lay on the top some blanched almonds cut into thin strips, and serve cold, with plenty of cream.

=Rice with Tomatoes.=--Boil one cupful of rice in boiling salted water for twenty minutes, shake now and then, but do not stir it. Drain, and add a little milk, in which a beaten egg has been mixed, one teaspoonful of butter, and a little pepper and salt. Simmer for five minutes, and if the rice has not absorbed all the milk, drain it again. Put the rice round a dish, smooth it into a wall, wash it over with the yolk of a beaten-up egg, and put it into the oven till firm. Take half a bottle of tomato conserve, or the strained juice and pulp of seven tomatoes, season with a little salt and pepper, sugar, and half a chopped onion, stew for twenty minutes, then stir in one tablespoonful of butter and two tablespoonfuls of fine grated bread-crumbs. Stew for a few minutes to thicken, then pour the tomatoes into the dish in the middle of the rice, and serve very hot.

=Risotto alla Milanese.=--Put a small chopped onion into a saucepan, with four ounces of butter, and a little pulp of white bread. Fry a light brown, remove the onions, and add two cupfuls of cooked rice. Stir for five minutes, add a glass of white wine, and by degrees a little broth, and a teaspoonful of saffron. Boil for forty minutes, adding broth from time to time. Before serving mix with it three ounces of grated Parmesan cheese. Remove from the fire, stir well, and cover for a few minutes. Serve very hot.

=Savoury Eggs with Spinach.=--Lay a thick layer of well-cooked spinach in the bottom of a shallow buttered dish, and sprinkle with salt and pepper, on this lay a sprinkling of grated cheese, and place upon the top a few small pieces of butter. On this put a thick layer of hard-boiled eggs cut in slices; the eggs may be pounded instead of sliced. Place on this a few pieces of butter, and sprinkle with pepper and salt, finish with a thick coating of grated cheese, and more butter. Bake till it is a crisp brown, about fifteen minutes.

=Strawberry and Tomato Salad.=--Select about half a pound of medium ripe, freshly gathered, firm strawberries not too ripe. Remove the stems, and cut each in four. Keep on ice till required. Steep in boiling water three or four medium-sized ripe tomatoes, for a few minutes, and skin them quickly. Cut each tomato into half, remove the seeds, and squeeze out carefully some of the pulp, then cut the tomatoes into fine strips, and season with a very little salt, paprika, and lemon juice. About five minutes before the salad is required mix the strawberries carefully with the tomatoes, put them neatly into the salad bowl, sprinkle over them a little freshly ground pepper, and pour over just enough mayonnaise to barely cover the fruit. Place a crisp lettuce heart in the centre, and garnish the base with thinly cut slices of cucumber.

=Toasted Marshmallows.=--One tablespoonful of granulated gelatine, one cup of boiling water, one cup of sugar, the whites of three eggs, one teaspoonful of vanilla, and some macaroons. Dissolve the gelatine in boiling water, add the sugar, and, as soon as dissolved, set the bowl containing the mixture in a pan of ice water; then add whites of eggs and vanilla, and beat until the mixture thickens. Turn into a shallow pan, first dipped in cold water, and let it stand until thoroughly chilled; remove from the pan, and cut into pieces of the size and shape of marshmallows, then roll in macaroons which have been dried and rolled. Serve with sugar and cream.

=“Tout Ensemble” Salad.=--Cream cheese, cherries (stoned), peanuts, currants, served on lettuce hearts with mayonnaise or French dressing.

=Two Loaves of Bread.=--Put three and a half pounds of flour (half a quartern) into an earthenware bowl, add half an ounce of salt; mix well with the flour. Make a hole in the middle, and set it in a warm place (if it is cold weather).

Take one ounce of yeast and one teaspoonful of sugar, and mix them in a small basin. If the yeast is good, it will soon become moist after the sugar is added. Put in two tablespoonfuls of flour, and mix to a smooth batter, with one quarter of a pint of warm water. Set it in a warm place, in front of the fire to rise; it will take about five minutes.

When risen, put it into the hole in the flour, and pour in one pint of milk, warmed by the addition of half a pint of hot water--it must be only new-milk warm; test it with your finger. If it is too hot, it will kill the ferment in the yeast. Stir with a knife or a wooden spoon. Then flour your hands and knead it for ten minutes till all the flour is absorbed, and the dough is smooth and elastic, and not sticky; some people prefer to knead it on a board. Cut three slashes across, and set the bowl in front of the fire on a stool, out of any draught. Cover it with a cloth, and let it rise till it has nearly doubled in bulk. Take the dough out of the bowl, scraping every bit off the sides, and cut it in half. Shape into loaves on the board, and put into greased loaf tins. The dough should half fill the tins, and touch the sides all round. Set them to rise in front of the fire for half an hour or three-quarters--the weather, and the temperature of the kitchen make such a difference, that there cannot be a fixed time, but the dough should be nearly level with the top of the tins when they are ready for baking.