It isn't often that we feel justified in buying fresh mushrooms at
this time of year, but at a dinner of this sort where one is not
obliged to pay for a steak or for game, one can afford to be a little
bit reckless in the matter of vegetables, especially when they are to
be put to such a delicious use as the making of cannelons. Coarsely
mince a pound or so of well-wiped mushrooms and toss them with a
little minced parsley in butter till nicely browned; then season with
white pepper and salt, adding a little more butter to moisten the
mushrooms till they are quite cooked. Then stir in--off the fire--the
yolks of three eggs, a squeeze of lemon juice, and set the whole aside
to cool. Roll out some puff or very short paste thin, cut it out in
oblongs, put a good spoonful of the mushroom mixture on each oblong,
roll these up like sausages, moistening the edges to make them adhere,
brush them over with egg and fry in plenty of oil or in butter. For
myself, I prefer the oil, and the using of oil for frying purposes
isn't the extravagant act that it seems at the first flush to be,
because it wastes very little and can be used repeatedly for different
purposes.
The cannelons are to be served with the poached eggs and tomato. And
the directions for preparing the latter dish are to be found elsewhere
in this book.