Many excellent cheese dishes, such as macaroni cheese, &c., are to be found
in the category of every household, so it will be needless to detail those
which are most generally known. Cheese is highly nutritious, and not
indigestible for those in ordinary health, if taken in moderation and
combined with other lighter and bulkier foods. Cheese with rice, bread
crumbs, macaroni, tomatoes, &c., is exceedingly good. It should be used
very sparingly, or not at all, in dishes which contain pulse, nuts, or eggs.
It should always be grated so that it can be mixed thoroughly with the other
ingredients.
Rice and Cheese.
Half teacupful rice, 2 ozs. grated cheese, one egg. Wash rice and put on
with cold water to barely cover, and pinch salt. When that is absorbed, add
milk enough to swell and cook the rice thoroughly without making it sloppy.
Remove from the fire and stir in the cheese, seasoning of salt, pepper, or
made mustard, pinch cayenne, and the egg beaten up. Turn into buttered
baking dish and bake gently till set and of a pale brown--cheese dishes must
never be done in too hasty an oven, as they acquire an unpleasant flavour if
in the least burnt. Turn out on hot ashet, and serve garnished with slices
of hard-boiled egg or fried tomatoes.
Cheese and Semolina.
Four ozs. cheese, breakfast cup milk, 1 oz. semolina, 2 eggs. Bring milk
to boil and stir in semolina. Cook till it thickens; remove from fire and
stir in the cheese, pinch cayenne, and yolks of eggs beaten up, beat up
whites stiffly, and mix in lightly. Turn into buttered pudding-dish and
bake gently till ready--about half-an-hour. This mixture, and the previous
one, may also be steamed for about 40 minutes. Serve with fried tomatoes or
tomato sauce.
I may say here that tomatoes go very well with cheese in almost any form. A
nice variety of rice and cheese can be contrived as follows:--Put half of
the cooked rice in pudding dish, put breakfastcupful tomatoes in saucepan
with a little butter, the cheese and seasoning, and just stir over the fire
till quite mixed. Put half over the rice, then the rest of the rice, and
the other half of the tomato mixture. Coat thickly with crumbs, put some
butter on top, and bake.
Cheese Souffle.
Two tablespoonfuls grated cheese, 2 eggs, 1-1/2 gills milk. Beat yolks of
eggs and mix in cheese, milk, pepper, salt, pinch cayenne, and, lastly, the
whites beaten quite stiff. Make souffle tin very hot, pour in mixture, and
bake in quick oven till set--15 to 20 minutes. Serve very hot.
Scotch Woodcock.
This is a favourite savoury in many non-vegetarian households. There are
numerous different recipes, which will doubtless be well known, but the
following is quite new and original. Prepare some slices of buttered toast
or fried bread, take about 1 lb. fresh tomatoes or a large cupful tinned
ones drained from the liquor, put in saucepan with a little butter and
grated onion, and stew gently till the tomatoes are pulped. If at all
stringy, put through a sieve. Add 2 ozs. grated cheese, seasoning to
taste, and stir over gentle heat till quite thick. Spread a layer of this
mixture on each slice of toast and pile on the top of each other. Reserve a
little of the mixture and to it add some tomato juice or milk, mushroom
ketchup, or diluted extract. Make very hot and pour right over, sprinkle
with chopped parsley, and garnish with slices of hard-boiled eggs--or these
might have the whites chopped up and the yolks grated over the top. Serve
very hot. A very tasteful effect is made by having the slices of toast,
which may be round, oblong, &c., graduating pyramid-wise from a large one at
the bottom to a small one at the top.
Cheese Straws (1).
Rub 2 ozs. butter into 4 ozs. flour. Add 2 ozs. grated cheese, a little
mustard and cayenne, and make into a stiff paste, with the yolks of 2 eggs
or one whole egg beaten up. Roll out thin, cut into straws, lift on to
baking sheet carefully with a knife, placing them a little apart, and bake a
pale brown--about 10 minutes in moderate oven. Another way is to break off
small bits of the paste and roll into thin pipes on a floured board.
Savoury