The Cook's Decameron Part 25

Polenta is made of ground Indian-corn, and may be used either as a separate dish or as a garnish for roast meat, pigeons, fowl, &c. It is made like porridge; gradually drop the meal with one hand into boiling stock or water, and stir continually with a wooden spoon with the other hand. In about a quarter of an hour it will be quite thick and smooth, then add a little b.u.t.ter and grated Parmesan, and one egg beaten up. Let it get cold, then put it in layers in a baking-dish, add a little b.u.t.ter to each layer, sprinkle with plenty of Parmesan, and bake it for about an hour in a slow oven. Serve hot.

No. 188. Polenta Pasticciata

Ingredients: Polenta, b.u.t.ter, cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes.

Prepare a good polenta as above, put it in layers in a fireproof dish, and add by degrees one and a half ounces of melted b.u.t.ter, two cooked mushrooms cut up, and two tablespoonsful of grated cheese. (If you like, you may add a good-sized tomato mashed up.) Put the dish in the oven, and before serving brown it over with salamander.

No. 189. Battuffoli

Ingredients: Polenta, onion, b.u.t.ter, salt, stock, Parmesan.

Make a somewhat firm polenta (No. 187) with half a pound of ground maize and a pint and a half of salted water, add a small onion cut up and fried in b.u.t.ter, and stir the polenta until it is sufficiently cooked.

Then take it off the fire and arrange it by spoonsful in a large fireproof dish, and give each spoonful the shape and size of an egg.

Place them one against the other, and when the first layer is done, pour over it some very good gravy or stock, and plenty of grated Parmesan.

Arrange it thus layer by layer. Put it into the oven for twenty minutes, and serve very hot.

No. 190. Risotto all'Italiana

Ingredients: Rice, an onion, b.u.t.ter, stock, tomatoes, cheese.

Fry a small onion slightly in b.u.t.ter, then add half a pint of very good stock. Boil four ounces of rice, but do not let it get pulpy, add it to the above with three medium-sized tomatoes in a puree. Mix it all up well, add more stock, and two tablespoonsful of grated Parmesan and Cheddar mixed, and serve hot.

No. 191. Risotto alla Genovese

Ingredients: Rice, beef or veal, onions, parsley, b.u.t.ter, stock, Parmesan, sweetbread or sheep's brains.

Cut up a small onion and fry it slightly in b.u.t.ter with some chopped parsley, add to this a little veal, also chopped up, and a little suet.

Cook for ten minutes and then add two ounces of rice to it. Mix all with a wooden spoon, and after a few minutes begin to add boiling stock gradually; stir with the spoon, so that the rice whilst cooking may absorb the stock; when it is half cooked add a few spoonsful of good gravy and a sweetbread or sheep's brains (previously scalded and cut up in pieces), and, if you like, a little powdered saffron dissolved in a spoonful of stock and three tablespoonsful of grated Parmesan and Cheddar mixed. Stir well until the rice is quite cooked, but take care not to get it into a pulp.

No. 192. Risotto alla Spagnuola

Ingredients: Rice, pork, ham, onions, tomatoes, b.u.t.ter, stock, vegetables, Parmesan.

Put a small bit of onion and an ounce of b.u.t.ter into a saucepan, add half a pound of tomatoes cut up and fry for a few minutes. Then put in some bits of loin of pork cut into dice and some bits of lean ham. After a time add four ounces of rice and good stock, and as soon as it begins to boil put on the cover and put the saucepan on a moderate fire. When the rice is half cooked add any sort of vegetable, by preference peas, asparagus cut up, beans, and cuc.u.mber cut up, cook for another quarter of an hour, and serve with grated Parmesan and Cheddar mixed and good gravy.

No. 193. Risotto alla Capuccina

Ingredients: Risotto (No. 190) eggs, truffles, smoked tongue, b.u.t.ter.

Make a good risotto, and when cooked put it into a fireproof dish. When cold cut into shapes with a dariole mould and fry for a few minutes in b.u.t.ter, then turn the darioles out, scoop out a little of each and fill it with eggs beaten up, cover each with a slice of truffle and garnish with a little chopped tongue. Put them in the oven for ten minutes.

No. 194. Risotto alla Parigina

Ingredients: Risotto (No. 190), game, sauce, b.u.t.ter.

Make a good risotto, and when cooked pour it into a fireproof dish, let it get cold, and then cut it out with a dariole mould, or else form it into little b.a.l.l.s about the size of a pigeon's egg. Fry these in b.u.t.ter and serve with a rich game sauce poured over them.

No. 195. Ravioli

Ingredients: Flour, eggs, b.u.t.ter, salt, forcemeat, Parmesan, gravy or stock.

Make a paste with a quarter pound of flour, the yolk of two eggs, a little salt and two ounces of b.u.t.ter. Knead this into a firm smooth paste and wrap it up in a damp cloth for half an hour, then roll it out as thin as possible, moisten it with a paste-brush dipped in water, and cut it into circular pieces about three inches in diameter. On each piece put about a teaspoonful of forcemeat of fowl, game, or fish mixed with a little grated Parmesan and the yolks of one or two eggs. Fold the paste over the forcemeat and pinch the edges together, so as to give them the shape of little puffs; let them dry in the larder, then blanch by boiling them in stock for quarter of an hour and drain them in a napkin. b.u.t.ter a fireproof dish, put in a layer of the ravioli, powder them over with grated Parmesan, then another layer of ravioli and more Parmesan. Then add enough very good gravy to cover them, put the dish in the oven for about twenty-five minutes, and serve in the dish.

No. 196. Ravioli alla Fiorentina

Ingredients: Beetroot, eggs, Parmesan, milk or cream, nutmeg, spices, salt, flour, gravy.

Wash a beetroot and boil it, and when it is sufficiently cooked throw it into cold water for a few minutes, then drain it, chop it up and add to it four eggs, one ounce of grated Parmesan, one ounce of grated Cheddar, two and a half ounces of boiled cream or milk, a small pinch of nutmeg and a little salt. Mix all well together into a smooth firm paste, then roll into b.a.l.l.s about the size of a walnut, flour them over well, let them dry for half an hour, then drop them very carefully one by one into boiling stock and when they float on the top take them out with a perforated ladle, put them in a deep dish, dust them over with Parmesan and pour good meat or game gravy over them.

No. 197. Gnocchi alla Romana

Ingredients: Semolina, b.u.t.ter, Parmesan, eggs, nutmeg, milk, cream.

Boil half a pint of milk in a saucepan, then add two ounces of b.u.t.ter, four ounces of semolina, two tablespoonsful of grated Parmesan, the yolks of three eggs, and a tiny pinch of nutmeg. Mix all well together, then let it cool, and spread out the paste so that it is about the thickness of a finger. Put a little b.u.t.ter and grated Parmesan and two tablespoonsful of cream in a fireproof dish, cut out the semolina paste with a small dariole mould and put it in the dish. Dust a little more Parmesan over it, put it in the oven for five minutes and serve in the dish.

No. 198. Gnocchi alla Lombarda