small dice. Melt four ounces of butter in an earthen dish with one
tablespoonful of flour, then mix in one pint of fresh cream (or milk),
a little salt and pepper, and a small pinch of nutmeg. Stir well
together until it boils, then put in the potatoes, add some grated
bread-crumbs and bits of fresh butter, and cook over a brisk fire until
they have turned a good yellow colour. Serve up hot in the earthen dish.
_Potato Pudding._
Mash twelve large boiled potatoes in a sauce-pan with four ounces of
butter, two tumblers of cream, a pinch of salt, and a tablespoonful of
flour. Then rub through a sieve, adding four ounces of white powdered
sugar, a little cinnamon, the yolks of four eggs, with their whites
beaten to a froth. Mix well, put into a well-buttered mould thickly
sprinkled with bread-crumbs, and bake for three-quarters of an hour
until browned.
_Potato Pudding with Mushrooms (Budino con Prugnuoli)._
Peel eight or more potatoes, cut them into quarters, wash, and boil
them in salted water with half a lemon; take them off the fire before
they are over-cooked. Then strain through a sieve, put them into a
large dish, and mash them well with a wooden spoon. Add two ounces of
fresh butter, and pour in half a tumbler of cream (a little at a time).
Beat up well with the spoon until the paste is smooth, then add three
or four well-beaten-up yolks of eggs. Butter a mould and pour in the
potato paste, make a hole in the centre, put small whole mushrooms into
it, cover them with a piece of the paste, and cook in the oven. When
baked, turn out the pudding on to a dish and serve hot.
_Potatoes ‘in Ragoût.’_
Cut six fine potatoes into dice, and put them into boiling water with
six sliced leeks. Boil for ten minutes, then drain. Boil half a bunch
of asparagus, drain, cut off their heads, and add them to the potatoes
and leeks, mixing well together. Meanwhile put two ounces of butter,
one pint of milk, one tablespoonful of chopped chervil, pepper and
salt to taste, into a sauce-pan, mix slowly over the fire until hot,
then pour over the potatoes, leeks, and asparagus, and boil the whole
together. Serve very hot.
_Potatoes ‘Arrostite’ (Roasted)._
Choose two pounds of young, round, and equal-sized potatoes. Put them
into a sauce-pan with four ounces of butter, salt to taste, and cover
hermetically. Place over a slow fire and shake frequently. After
three-quarters of an hour the potatoes will have a brown crust, and
inside they will be white and tender.
_Potatoes ‘Sautées.’_
Cut three or four cold, boiled potatoes into dice, and put them, a
few at a time, so that they shall not overlap one another, into a
frying-pan with fresh butter. (Allow one tablespoonful of butter for
each potato.) Brown them well, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve
immediately.
_Potatoes ‘in Stufato.’_
Cut ten large potatoes into dice and put them into cold water for a
quarter of an hour. Drain, and cook in boiling water for about ten
minutes, then dry in a cloth and put them into a sauce-pan; sprinkle
them with flour, add one pint of milk and two ounces of butter. Cover
tightly and let them simmer slowly for ten or fifteen minutes. Sprinkle
with salt and pepper, and serve up very hot.
_Potatoes ‘Tartufate.’_
Cut three or four parboiled potatoes into thin slices and lay them one
by one, with thin slices of truffles mixed with grated Parmesan cheese,
in an earthen dish. Add two ounces of butter in bits, salt and pepper
to taste, and when the potatoes begin to cook moisten with broth or
gravy. Before serving, squeeze a little lemon juice over them, and
serve hot in the earthen dish.
_Potatoes ‘all’ Umido.’_
Boil five or six large potatoes, let them get cold, and then cut them
into dice. Put them into a baking-dish with two ounces of butter and
enough cream to cover them. Cook until nicely browned, and serve very
hot.
* * * * *
_Pumpkins ‘alla Fiorentina.’_
Take twelve very young pumpkins (about one and a half inches long), cut
them in half, and put them in cold water. Have a sauce-pan ready with
four quarts of salted water. When boiling put in the pumpkins. When
they are cooked put them again into cold water. Just before serving
place them in a sauce-pan with four ounces of butter, heat for three
minutes, then add two tablespoonfuls of veal broth, two of cream, and a
squeeze of lemon. Heat again and serve.
_Pumpkins ‘Fritti.’_
Take young pumpkins (about the size of your two fists), peel them, cut
them in half, and take out seeds and pulp. Cut them into thin strips
(one and a half or two inches long, and as wide as your finger),
and put them into a dish with salt for some hours. Then squeeze out
the water with your hands, and throw them into flour, taking care to
separate and cover each strip with flour, shake the superfluous flour
off them in a sieve, and put them into a frying-pan with plenty of
boiling lard or oil. Serve at once.
_Pumpkin Pudding (Bodino)._
Cook (but not too much) two and a half pounds of pumpkin with two
ounces of butter, a little pepper, allspice, and salt, and pass
through a sieve, adding some crumb of bread soaked in milk or cream,
some powdered cinnamon, several pounded bitter almonds, a handful of
grated bread, and three yolks of eggs. Mix thoroughly and put it into a
well-buttered shape with thin slices of buttered bread arranged round
the inside, and cook with a fire above and below until thoroughly
browned. Serve up hot.
_Pumpkins ‘Ripiene.’ No. 1._
Cut six young and small pumpkins (about two and a half inches long)
in two, and take out the pulp. Meanwhile mince fine the breast of a
fowl (or any tender white meat you have over from the day before),
one slice of tongue, and one of ham; put them into a sauce-pan with
three tablespoonfuls of veal broth, the yolk of an egg, a pinch of
salt, and one of pepper; parboil; therewith fill the pumpkins. Butter
a sauté-pan, lay the stuffed pumpkins in, and cook with fire above and
below, occasionally adding some broth. Serve as soon as cooked.
_Pumpkins ‘Ripiene’ (maigre). No. 2._
Take young pumpkins (about the size of your fist), scoop out their
insides, and fill them with minced tunny fish preserved in oil, yolk
of egg, a pinch of Parmesan cheese, a little of the soft pulp of the
pumpkin, and a little allspice and pepper, but no salt. Cook the
pumpkins in butter, and when brown serve with Tomato sauce (see Sauces,
p. 126).
* * * * *
_Rice (How to cook)._
Place a large sauce-pan with water on a hot fire; it is necessary that
the water should boil violently in order to keep the grains of rice
separate. Wash the rice in several waters so as to remove the floury
coating, which makes it pasty. Drain, and drop it gradually into the
sauce-pan, so as not to stop the boiling. Then boil hard for a quarter
of an hour or twenty minutes. When the rice is soft to the touch, it is
done. Then drain off every drop of water, sprinkle with salt, cover the
sauce-pan with a thin napkin, and leave it by the fire to steam and get
dry. (The rice can also be put into a cullender to drain, and then into
an open oven to dry; or butter the interior of a stew-pan, put in the
rice, put on the lid tight, and stand the pan on a trivet in the oven,
or by the fire.)
_Rice ‘alla Casalinga.’_
Wash eight ounces of rice, and blanch it in a sauce-pan with two quarts
of water for five minutes, then strain and let it cool. Meanwhile fry
four ounces of lean bacon cut up into small pieces, and when browned,
add one and a half pints of stock and a small teaspoonful of white
pepper. Put in the rice, cook for twenty minutes, stirring every now
and then, take it off the fire, add half a tumbler of Tomato sauce (see
Sauces, p. 126), or conserve, and mix well. Turn out the rice on to a
hot dish, and garnish with small sausages.
_Rice Croquettes._
Boil a cupful of rice in weak chicken broth, drain, stir in two
beaten-up eggs, one teaspoonful of butter, a slight sprinkling of
flour, pepper, and a pinch of grated lemon-peel. Flour your hands, and
make the rice, when cold, into small sausages (or croquettes), roll
each in raw egg, and then in bread crumbs, and fry to a golden brown.
_Rice with Tomatoes. No. 1._
Boil one cupful of rice soft in hot water, shake it 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 or eight tomatoes), season with pepper, a little
salt, sugar, and half a chopped onion, stew for twenty minutes, then
stir in one tablespoonful of butter and two tablespoonfuls of fine
bread-crumbs. Stew three or four minutes to thicken, and then pour the
tomato into the dish in the middle of the rice, and serve.
_Rice with Tomatoes. No. 2._
Boil one cupful of rice as directed in ‘How to boil Rice’; add half a
cupful of Tomato sauce (see Sauces, p. 126), season with some butter,
salt, and pepper to taste, and one or two bay leaves. Toss, or mix
lightly with a fork, being careful not to mash the grains. Serve hot.
This makes a nice dish for winter.
_Rice with Prawns._
Mince up half an onion, one clove of garlic, one carrot, half a head
of celery, and a bunch of parsley, and brown in pure olive oil. Then
put six or seven ounces of prawns into the sauce-pan, and season with
salt and pepper. Turn them often, and when all are red put in two or
three tablespoonfuls of Tomato sauce (or conserve), and add enough hot
water to cook fourteen or fifteen ounces of rice in afterwards. Do not
boil too much, as prawns cook fast. Take the prawns out, dry them,
choose about a third of the finest, shell and lay them aside. Pound
the others in a mortar (shells and all), rub them through a sieve, and
mix again with the water in which they were cooked. Meanwhile put some
butter into a sauce-pan, add the rice, stir well, and as soon as it
has taken up the butter, pour the water little by little on to it.
When half-boiled add the shelled prawns, and before serving sprinkle
Parmesan cheese over the whole.
_Rice with Quails._
Mince up two or four slices of ham and a quarter of an onion, and
brown in a sauce-pan, then put in four quails ready drawn. Sprinkle
with pepper and salt, and as soon as they are browned, parboil them in
broth, then add fourteen ounces of rice, and boil all together. Powder
with grated Parmesan cheese and serve on a hot dish.
_Rice ‘alla Ristori.’_
Cut two ounces of bacon into small pieces, and put them into a
sauce-pan with chopped-up cabbage. Steam for half an hour and add a
little salt, pepper, and chopped parsley; then throw in a quarter of
a pound of rice and half a pint of veal broth. Cook for fifteen or
eighteen minutes, and serve with grated Parmesan cheese sprinkled over
it.
* * * * *
_Risotto ‘alla Milanese.’ No. 1._
Melt two ounces of good fresh butter in a sauce-pan over a sharp fire,
add one onion chopped fine, brown a deep golden colour, then add about
ten ounces of clean rice (Italian if possible) and two large truffles
chopped up. Stir without stopping for one and a half minutes, and add
one quart of boiling veal broth, stir and let it cook for fourteen
minutes. Add six chopped-up mushrooms, and, a little at a time, one
more quart of broth, stirring constantly over a sharp fire for ten
minutes more. Put in half a teaspoonful of salt, a little pepper, one
and a half ounces of grated Parmesan cheese, and a teaspoonful of
saffron soaked in two tablespoonfuls of hot broth, and strained. Cook
three or four minutes longer, stirring all the time, then pour into a
deep dish, and serve hot with some grated Parmesan cheese separate. It
is an improvement to put a tablespoonful of marrow into the centre just
before serving.
_Risotto ‘alla Milanese.’ No. 2._
Cut up an onion and cook it with one and a half ounces of beef marrow,
and the same quantity of good butter; when browned put in one pound of
rice and add three-quarters of a glass of good white wine and broth
enough to cook the rice. Before taking off the fire add one and a half
ounces of butter and some grated Parmesan cheese, and serve with more
grated cheese separately.
_Risotto with Peas._
Mince up one small onion, brown it in two ounces of butter, then put in
one pound of rice, and stir with a ladle until the rice has taken up
all the butter. Add hot water (a cupful at a time), sprinkle with salt,
and let it boil dry, adding two ounces of butter. Before taking it off
the fire add peas cooked ‘alla Borghese’ omitting the milk and eggs.
Mix, sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese, and serve hot.
_Risotto ‘alla Poggio Gherardo.’_
Mince an onion, put it into a three-quart sauce-pan, and brown with
three ounces of good butter. Take out the onion, put in one pound of
rice, and half a wineglassful of Marsala. Reduce over a brisk fire,
then add one quart of stock, and boil hard so as to reduce in eighteen
minutes. Then take it off the fire and season with one ounce of good
butter, one ounce of grated Parmesan cheese, three or four fowls’
livers and mushrooms minced up fine, and some good gravy. Serve hot.
* * * * *
SALADS.
_Artichoke Salad._
Boil some small and tender artichokes and leave them to cool. Just
before serving drop into the middle of each, one drop of onion juice,
lay them on lettuce leaves, and pour sauce Mayonnaise (see Sauces, p.
123) over them.
_Beetroot Salad._
Slice two or three cold, boiled beetroots and place them in a
salad-bowl. Pour half a pint of sauce Tartara (see Sauces, p. 126) over
them and serve up with a garnish of parsley leaves.
_Broccoli Salad._
Boil one or two heads of broccoli in salted water, then strain them and
dry with a cloth. Make a sauce of pure olive oil, white wine vinegar,
very little salt and pepper, one tablespoonful of capers, and two or
three anchovies chopped up with some parsley. Pour over the broccoli
when cold and serve.
_Cabbage Salad._
Cut the heart of a white cabbage and half a head of celery into shreds.
Boil half a teacup of vinegar with one tablespoonful of butter, add
one tablespoonful of sugar, salt and pepper to taste, and put in the
cabbage, but do not let it boil. Meanwhile beat up two eggs, mix them
in one cupful of hot milk, and boil to a custard. Then put the cabbage
into a salad-bowl, pour the custard over it, and mix well. Place in the
ice-box until wanted.
_‘Alla Cardinale’ Salad._
Wash and dry well two lettuces and a bunch of water-cresses, cut two
large cold, boiled beetroots into strips, add twelve radishes, six
hard-boiled eggs chopped up, and one sliced cucumber. Arrange the
lettuce leaves round a salad-bowl, mix all the rest with half a pint of
sauce Mayonnaise (see Sauces, p. 123) and serve.
_Cauliflower Salad._
Boil a large cauliflower, then put it in cold water; when quite cold,
break it into pieces, and put these to dry on a napkin before placing
in the salad-bowl. Add two shalots and some parsley chopped up, salt
and pepper to taste, and pour half a pint of sauce Mayonnaise (see
Sauces, p. 123) over it before serving.
_Celery Salad._
Cut the white stalks into small pieces and add half a pint of sauce
Mayonnaise (see Sauces, p. 123) to every pound of celery. Sprinkle with
salt and pepper, mix well with the sauce, and serve the dish trimmed
with the green leaves of the celery.
_Cucumber and Tomato Salad._
Peel and slice two cucumbers, dry them on a napkin, then peel and slice
two large tomatoes. Cover the bottom of the salad-bowl with lettuce
leaves, and then alternate layers of the cucumbers and tomatoes, pour
sauce ‘alla Francese’ (see Sauces, p. 123) over and serve.
_‘All’ Egiziana’ Salad._
Wash the curly inside leaves of two heads of endive, dry them well, put
them into a salad-bowl, pour three tablespoonfuls of good olive oil
over them, and add a finely chopped shalot. Mix one tablespoonful of
honey (or sugar), one of vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste, in a
cup, and pour over the salad just before serving.
_French Beans Salad._
Boil one pound of French beans until tender, drain, and put them in
cold water. Dry them on a napkin, and cut them lengthwise into four
pieces. Pour sauce ‘alla Francese’ (see Sauces, p. 123) over them just
before serving.
_‘All’ Italiana’ Salad._
Cut one carrot and one turnip into slices and cook them in boiling
soup. When cold mix them with two large cold, boiled potatoes, and one
beetroot cut into strips. Add a very little chopped leeks, or onion,
pour some sauce ‘Lombarda’ (see Sauces, p. 123) over the salad, and
garnish with water-cress.
_Lettuce Salad._
Use only the tender leaves, and let them stand in cold water until
wanted. Wipe them quite dry, then break with the fingers into the
following sauce: Two or three yolks of hard-boiled eggs beaten up with
one tablespoonful of pure olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, two more
tablespoonfuls of oil added gradually, and one of white wine vinegar,
and one teaspoonful of mustard. Mix well and garnish the salad-bowl
with nasturtium (Tropæolum) flowers.
_Lettuce Salad ‘alla Francese.’_
Put the tender leaves of lettuce into cold water till wanted; then wipe
them dry and stand them in circles in the salad-bowl. Sprinkle them
with half a teaspoonful of chopped taragon, the same of chervil, of
parsley and of chives, and pour the following sauce over them: mix in a
cup one tablespoonful of pure olive oil, one saltspoonful of salt, and
half a saltspoonful of pepper, stir well; add two more tablespoonfuls
of oil, and one of vinegar (if liked add two drops of onion juice). The
salad must not be mixed till wanted, and can be garnished with small
radishes or nasturtium flowers.
_Lettuce Salad with Veal (or Fish)._
Slice up a head of lettuce and chop up two boiled eggs in large pieces,
add half a pound of cold veal (or fish), cut into strips one inch long,
and mix in a salad-bowl. Then beat up the yolks of two raw eggs,
add a very little salt, and mix in gradually four tablespoonfuls of
pure olive oil, and one of white wine vinegar; a few drops of taragon
vinegar is an improvement.
_‘Alla Macedoine’ Salad._
Cut into small pieces one cold boiled beetroot and half an onion, add
some cold boiled French beans, two ounces of cold boiled asparagus
heads, two tablespoonfuls of cold cooked peas, one cold boiled carrot,
and one head of celery. Mix them well together, pour sauce Mayonnaise
(see Sauces, p. 123) over them, add the juice of a lemon, and serve.
_‘Alla Pollastra’ Salad._
Chop up six lettuce leaves, and three stalks of celery; cut the remains
of a cold boiled fowl into small pieces and mix with one tablespoonful
of white wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste, in a salad-bowl.
Pour a cupful of sauce Mayonnaise (see Sauces, p. 123) over; and
garnish with quarters of hard-boiled eggs, one tablespoonful of capers,
twelve stoned olives, and some small tender lettuce leaves.
_Potato Salad. No. 1._
Boil six potatoes; peel, slice them fine, mix with one or two small
onions cut into quarters, and half a tumbler of red wine; add salt
and pepper to taste, four or five tablespoonfuls of oil, and half a
tablespoonful of white wine vinegar, one tablespoonful of chervil
chopped fine, and some thin slices of anchovies, or, if preferred,
smoked herring. Stir well, but before serving take out the onions.
_Potato Salad. No. 2._
Boil some fine potatoes, peel and slice them. Slice some truffles
(boiled in white wine) very thin and put them in alternate layers with
potatoes into a salad-bowl. Season with four or five tablespoonfuls of
good olive oil, one dessert-spoonful of white wine vinegar, and salt
and pepper to taste. Garnish with slices of anchovies, stoned olives,
and (if liked) a few young chives.
_Potato Salad. No. 3._
Slice some boiled (or baked) potatoes thin, add one teaspoonful of
chopped parsley; mix apart six tablespoonfuls of good olive oil, two
of white wine vinegar, one teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful
of pepper, and pour over the potatoes. Add six or more (according to
taste) boned anchovies cut into strips, and twelve stoned olives. Thin
slices of cold beef or fowl can be mixed in this salad with advantage.
_Potato Salad. No. 4._
Boil six fine potatoes, slice them and place them to cool. Slice three
hard-boiled eggs, and mince four ounces of pickled tunny-fish fine.
Place alternate layers of minced tunny, and sliced potato and egg,
in the salad-bowl, sprinkle the last layer with chopped chervil, and
season the dish with pure olive oil, white wine vinegar, pepper and a
very little salt, mixed separately and poured over before serving.
_‘Alla Russa’ Salad._
Cut up two boiled carrots, one small turnip, half a bunch of asparagus
(the green part) one small beetroot, and some cold chicken or
partridge, into dice, take some cold boiled young French beans, and
green peas, one tablespoonful of capers, some stoned olives, slices
of anchovies, and some prawns. Make a sauce of pure olive oil (a good
deal), a little vinegar, pepper, half a pinch cayenne, some mustard, a
spoonful of caviare, and one finely chopped shalot.
_Spanish Onion Salad._
Peel and slice two large Spanish onions and two cucumbers. Put them
into iced water for twenty minutes, then drain, and dry them well on a
cloth. Arrange the slices of onion and cucumber alternately on a dish,
pour sauce ‘alla Francese’ (see Sauces, p. 123), over them and serve.
_N.B._--Cucumbers should if possible always be kept on ice, and never
be put into salted water.
_Summer Salad. No. 1._
Take three heads of fresh lettuce, one of celery, a little chopped
taragon and chervil, and one or two shalots. Season with five
tablespoonfuls of pure olive oil, two of white wine vinegar, one
teaspoonful of salt, and half a teaspoonful of pepper. Stir well before
serving. Cold, boiled haricot beans are a good addition, and also half
a pound of cold meat cut in very thin slices.
_Summer Salad. No. 2._
Take two large cucumbers, and one head of celery, peel and slice; add a
bunch of red radishes. Add six cold, boiled young artichokes cut into
quarters. Sprinkle with finely chopped chervil, mix, and pour sauce
‘alla Francese’ (see Sauces, p. 123) over just before serving.
_Tomato Salad. No. 1._
Scald[18] and peel ripe tomatoes and put them in ice. Cut them into
thin slices and put on a flat dish. In the centre of each slice put one
teaspoonful of sauce Mayonnaise (see Sauces, p. 123), and garnish with
sprigs of parsley. Or the tomato can be cut in two, laid on a young
lettuce leaf, and sauce Mayonnaise poured over them.
[18] Put the tomatoes in a wire basket and plunge them into boiling
water for one minute. If left too long in the water they get soft.
_Tomato Salad. No. 2._
Scald and peel twelve or eighteen small yellow tomatoes. Pile them on
a dish like plums, garnish with young lettuce leaves, and pour the
following sauce over them: mix well in a cup one tablespoonful of pure
olive oil, one saltspoonful of salt, and half a saltspoonful of pepper,
add, stirring all the time, two tablespoonfuls of oil, and one of
vinegar, and, if the flavour is liked, add two drops of onion juice.
_Tomato Salad. No. 3._
Peel round red tomatoes of equal size, and scoop out a bit of the fruit
from the stem end. Keep them on ice till wanted, then fill them high
with sauce Mayonnaise (see Sauces, p. 123) and celery cut into shreds
of half an inch long. Place each on a young lettuce leaf on which a
little sauce Mayonnaise has been put, and arrange on a flat dish.
(Chopped hard-boiled eggs and lettuce may be used instead of celery.)
_Tomato Salad. No. 4._
Scald and peel six fine tomatoes and put them in ice, cut them into
very thin slices in a salad-bowl so as to keep the juice. Season with
salt and pepper to taste, two tablespoonfuls of oil, one of vinegar,
and, if liked, one small teaspoonful of chives. Mix well and serve as
cold as possible.
_Tomato Salad. No. 5._
Take round tomatoes (not too big), fill them as in No. 3, but do not
let the stuffing stand out beyond the fruit. Then put small moulds,
or cups, on ice, and pour in one-eighth of an inch of clear aspic
jelly; when set, place a tomato (the filled side uppermost) into each
mould, and pour more jelly round it and over it. Ice well, turn out the
tomatoes on a dish garnished with sliced lettuce or watercress, and
serve with sauce Mayonnaise (see Sauces, p. 123) separate.
_Tomato Jelly Salad._