=Cucumber Timbâles.=--Mix one cupful of cooked cucumber pulp, and
half a cupful of bread-crumbs with half a cupful of very thick cream
sauce, a tablespoonful of lemon juice, the yolks of two eggs beaten
thoroughly, and a few drops of onion juice. Fold in the stiffly beaten
whites of the eggs, fill small buttered timbâle moulds, and bake until
firm in a pan of hot water.
=Mashed Cucumbers.=--Peel and cut up old cucumbers, and boil until soft
in salted water to cover. Drain, mash, and season with butter, salt,
and pepper.
=Devilled Cucumbers.=--Make a sauce of one cupful of stewed and
strained tomato, half a teaspoonful each of salt and made mustard,
a teaspoonful of sugar, cayenne, and grated onion to season, a
tablespoonful of olive oil, and the juice of half a lemon. Bring to the
boil, pour over fried cucumbers, and serve.
=Cucumbers on Toast.=--Peel and cut two or three large cucumbers into
half-inch slices. Cover with hot water and stew until tender but not
broken. Bring a cupful of cream to the boil, add a tablespoonful of
butter, and salt and pepper to season. Drain the cucumber, reheat in
the cream, and serve on toast.
=Ragout of Cucumbers and Onions.=--Peel and slice three cucumbers
and two onions. Fry brown in butter, dredging with a little flour,
add enough water to cover, and cook for half an hour. Thicken with a
teaspoonful each of butter and flour cooked together, add salt and
pepper to season, and half a cupful of stewed and strained tomatoes.
Heat thoroughly, and serve.
=Stewed Cucumber.=--Peel and quarter six cucumbers, remove the seeds,
and fry in butter with a chopped onion. Take up the cucumbers and cook
a tablespoonful of flour in the fat remaining in the pan. Add one
cupful of stock or water and cook until thick, stirring constantly.
Season to taste with salt or pepper and cook the cucumbers in the sauce
for twenty minutes. Serve on small squares of buttered toast.
=Stuffed Cucumbers.=--Peel and split four cucumbers and scoop out
the seeds. Make a stuffing of one cupful of stale bread-crumbs, half
a cupful of chopped nuts, one boiled onion chopped, a tablespoonful
each of minced parsley and Chutney sauce, and salt to season. Stuff the
cucumbers, put the halves together, and tie into shape with strings.
Brown in olive oil, add half a cupful of water, and bake for an hour
and a half, basting frequently. Remove the strings and serve.
=Cucumber Fritters.=--Make some batter with an egg, a cupful of milk,
and enough sifted flour to thicken it--about a tablespoonful--put some
slices of peeled cucumbers into sufficient boiling water to cover them,
let them stand for fifteen minutes, drain and wipe them dry, season the
slices with salt and pepper, dip them into the batter, and fry in deep
fat.
=Escalloped Cucumbers.=--Peel and cut into dice six large cucumbers.
Butter a baking dish and put in a layer of the dice. Season with grated
onion and lemon juice. Cover with crumbs, dot with butter, and season
with paprika and celery salt. Repeat until the dish is full, having
crumbs and butter on the top. Cover and bake for an hour, then remove
the cover and brown. Serve with sauce piquante.
=Cucumber Sliced.=--Cut off the pointed end and discard, then peel as
much as you are likely to require--probably half--but do not cut it
off. Thinly slice with a cucumber knife as far as you have peeled. Put
the piece that remains in a two-pound jam-pot with two inches of water
in the bottom. Let the stalk end be in the water, and the cucumber will
keep crisp for two days, but the ideal thing is to use it as soon as it
is severed from the tine. Take the thin slices of cucumber and lay them
on a flat dish, sprinkle with a little salt, and put another plate over
and leave in a cool place for half an hour. Then drain off the brine,
and slip the slices on to a glass dish, pepper them, and pour a little
brown vinegar over them, and if liked, half a tablespoonful of olive
oil. Serve immediately. Treated in this way cucumber is more digestible.
=Cucumber and Onion.=--Peel and slice the cucumber and put in a glass
dish; add a few thin slices of raw onion, pepper, and vinegar; oil if
liked.
Cucumbers are much used to decorate salads.
DANDELION (_Leontodum Taraxacum. Compositæ_).
Sow during March or April in shallow drills fifteen inches apart. Thin
the plants to the same distance in the rows. When the plants are large
enough to use they should be blanched by covering with flower-pots
inserted over them with a piece of slate on top to exclude the light.
The young leaves, either green or blanched, are excellent for salads,
generally in addition to lettuce or chicory.