Fifty-Two Sunday Dinners Part 22

1 teaspoon finely chopped chives.

1 tablespoon b.u.t.ter.

1/4 cup soft stale bread crumbs soaked in water then wrung in a napkin.

1 egg yolk.

Few grains poultry seasonings.

PROCESS: Mix ingredients in the order given and fill body of pigeons.

ASPARAGUS WITH b.u.t.tER SAUCE

Untie the bunches, wash and remove scales. Cut off the hard part of spears as far up as they will snap. Retie, and cook in boiling salted water until tender (about fifteen minutes), leaving the tips out of water the first ten minutes of cooking. Drain, remove strings. Arrange in hot serving dish and pour over two tablespoons melted b.u.t.ter (for each bunch), sprinkle with salt and pepper.

SPINACH SALAD

Pick over and wash in several waters or until no sand is left in bottom of bowl, one-half peck spinach. Drain and cook in its own juice and the water that clings to the leaves (if spinach is old, cook it in plenty of water), until soft. Drain dry as possible and chop finely. Season with salt, pepper and Tarragon vinegar. Cut bacon in shreds crosswise, then cut shreds in small bits. Saute them until delicately browned and crisp, skim them from the fat, add them to spinach, add one tablespoon of bacon fat. b.u.t.ter lightly small Dairole molds and pack solidly with spinach.

Chill, unmold and arrange on thin slices of cold, boiled ham, tongue or Bologna sausage, trimmed in circular pieces a trifle larger than mold of spinach. Arrange each portion in a nest of parsley or cress, and fill depression on top of spinach with Mayonnaise or Sauce Tartare (for recipe see Page 84).

[Sidenote: _May_

_Third Sunday_]

Menu

CREAM OF ASPARAGUS

BRAISED CALF'S LIVER

RICE AU GRATIN CARROTS AND TURNIPS IN CREAM SAUCE

ASPARAGUS SALAD

CUSTARD PIE EDAM CHEESE

COFFEE

ICED TEA

CREAM OF ASPARAGUS

(For recipe see Page 66.)

BRAISED CALF'S LIVER

Wipe liver and skewer into shape, if necessary. Draw small lardoons through the liver, in parallel rows, leaving each lardoon extend one-half inch above surface. Place liver in a ca.s.serole or Dutch oven, surround with remnants of lardoons. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and dredge with flour. Surround with one-third cup each of carrots, onion and celery, cut in small cubes; add one-half teaspoon peppercorns, six cloves, one spray parsley, a bit of bay leaf and two cups hot Brown Stock or water. Cover closely and cook in a slow oven two hours. Remove cover the last half hour of cooking that liver may brown richly. Remove liver to serving platter, set aside in a warm place. Strain liquor in ca.s.serole and use for making a Brown Sauce. Pour sauce around liver and serve. Braised liver may be served cold, thinly sliced.

RICE AU GRATIN

1-1/2 cups steamed or boiled rice.

1 tablespoon salt.

1-1/2 tablespoons b.u.t.ter.

1/3 lb. grated cheese.

Cayenne.

Milk.

b.u.t.tered cracker crumbs.

PROCESS: When steaming or boiling the rice, allow one tablespoon of salt for seasoning. b.u.t.ter a baking dish and cover with a layer of rice, dot over with some of the b.u.t.ter. Sprinkle with a thin layer of cheese and a slight sprinkle cayenne; repeat alternate layers until rice and cheese are used. Pour on milk to half the depth of baking dish, cover with b.u.t.tered cracker crumbs and bake in oven until cheese melts and crumbs are brown.

CARROTS AND TURNIPS IN CREAM SAUCE

Scrub, sc.r.a.pe and cut carrots in small cubes. Wash, pare and cut purple-top turnips the same. (There should be one and one-half cups of each.) Cover each (in separate vessels) with boiling water and cook until tender; add salt the last half hour of cooking. Drain well, toss together and reheat in one and one-half cups Thin White Sauce.

ASPARAGUS SALAD

Cook asparagus in the usual way, drain and slip three or four spears through an onion ring just large enough to hold them. Arrange these f.a.gots in nests of crisp lettuce heart leaves. Just before serving pour over French Dressing to which has been added one tablespoon of finely chopped chives. A band of red or green pepper may be used in place of the onion ring. Canned asparagus should first be drained from the liquor in the can then rinsed with cold water. Chilled and served as directed in the foregoing.

CUSTARD PIE

Line a deep, perforated pie tin with Plain or Rich Paste. For filling, beat three eggs slightly, add one-fourth cup sugar, one-eighth teaspoon salt, one-eighth teaspoon nutmeg, and pour over slowly two cups scalded milk, stirring constantly. Bake in a hot oven at first, to set the crust or rim, then reduce the heat afterwards; as this is a combination of eggs and milk it should be finished in a slow oven.

[Sidenote: _May_

_Fourth Sunday_]

Menu

CONSOMMe--BREAD STICKS

BOILED CORNED BEEF WITH VEGETABLES

DANDELION SALAD

FROZEN STRAWBERRIES

SPANISH LAYER CAKE