And now, just one more dish before leaving the luncheon table. Have
you ever prepared a baked-chicken hash? If not, allow me to suggest
that you chop quite finely the cold meat of chicken or fowl, season it
with salt and white pepper, moisten it with cream or with milk and
butter, scatter bread-crumbs over the top and brown in the oven, and
behold, you have one of the homeliest dishes in the annals of
housekeepers glorified to suit the palate of a veritable epicure.
Whenever, at this season of the year, I go to market in search of
fish for the dinner-table, it is only by the exercise of great will
power that I am able to refrain from buying soft-shell crabs. They are
so delicious, whether broiled or fried, that it seems positively
wicked they should be so expensive. Still, the fish dealer assures me
that almost any day the price may "break" and, other fish being
plentiful, we can afford to wait patiently for the "drop." Delicious
trout, of either the lake or brook variety, are abundant, and in
whatever way they are served are one of the pleasures of the present
day.
Although the month of roses is generally known as the month of salmon,
it is in first-class condition now, and obtainable at a fairly low
figure. No other fish is so capable of reserving; little scraps left
may be warmed in cream and served on toast for breakfast, made into a
salad for luncheon, or shaped into croquettes for dinner the following
day.
In the vernacular of the marketman, "spring lamb is getting down on to
the earth." Which, being interpreted for ears polite, means that the
price is getting lower each week, but that the flavor remains
unsurpassed; in fact "none but itself can be its parallel." Bits of
lamb left from dinner may be prepared in the way suggested for
baked-chicken hash, and will, I am sure, merit your favor.
When lamb is suggested, there follows, as a natural sequence, the
thought of green peas; and if the peas in market to-day were only as
good as they look, the thought would be a happy one. As matters stand,
however, for those who know not the delight of eating peas in less
than three hours from the time they are gathered from the vines, the
representatives of this vegetable to be had now will pass muster. For
myself, I prefer either cauliflower or egg plant, both of them plenty
and in good condition now. The former if boiled and served with a
white sauce, or baked with cheese is especially gratifying when served
with a roast of lamb, while the egg-plant will be quite as much of a
success if broiled, or stuffed and baked.
Of course asparagus has attained perfection, and is so in evidence on
every hand that it is not necessary to mention it here. However, there
are many persons of the belief that it is impossible to have too much
of a good thing, and most decidedly asparagus is entitled to come
under that head.