Twenty-four Little French Dinners and How to Cook and Serve Them Part 6

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=Souffle au Citron.=--Put three egg yolks and three ounces of powdered sugar into a basin with the grated rind of a lemon and a half and stir till quite thick. Add slowly a tablespoonful of lemon juice and then, quickly, the well beaten whites of the three eggs. Pour into a pie dish and bake in a medium oven for twenty minutes. When the surface is a golden brown it is done. Serve immediately.

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Filets de Carrelets, Italienne Pommes de Terre, Loulou Cailles Rotis Salade des Tomates et d'Artichauts Vol-au-Vent, Chantilly

=Filets de Carrelets, Italienne.=--Take the fillets of two firm flounders, trim and flour each piece lightly. Dip in egg beaten with pepper and salt, cover on both sides with stale breadcrumbs and fry in boiling olive oil. When the fillets are a golden brown place on a sieve in front of the fire with a soft paper beneath them that they may drain.

Serve with fried parsley and quarters of lemon.

=Pommes de Terre, Loulou.=--Chop raw potatoes fine and place them in a saucepan with b.u.t.ter and a seasoning of pepper, salt, paprika and a trace of nutmeg. Cover and cook very slowly, agitating them constantly.

When they become soft, beat well and arrange a layer on a vegetable dish, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, put on another layer of potatoes, then more cheese, and so on, having the top layer of cheese. Pour over all melted b.u.t.ter and bake about twenty minutes in a slow oven.

=Cailles Rotis.=--Tie a thin slice of bacon over the breast of each quail, roast them at a clear fire for fifteen minutes, basting frequently. Lay them on crisp b.u.t.tered toast, sprinkle with minced parsley, salt and paprika, and serve with a rich wine jelly on a separate dish.

=Salade des Tomates et d'Artichauts.=--Cut the under part of boiled artichokes into slices and take the same number of slices of tomato. Dip both into a dressing made of olive oil, vinegar, tarragon, chervil, salt and pepper, with a little mustard and arrange in a salad bowl. Pour over the remainder of the dressing and serve.

=Vol-au-Vent, Chantilly.=--Roll a pound of puff paste to about an eighth of an inch in thickness and cut out about thirty rounds with a fluted cutter, about two and a half inches in diameter. Then cut out the center of these with a cutter about an inch across. Roll out the paste taken from the centers and cut out more rings in the same way. Brush the rings over with egg, place one on top of another, two by two, press together so that they will stick, place on a baking sheet, brush over with egg and bake in a brisk oven. When almost done sprinkle with sugar and allow to remain in the oven till they are glazed and fully done. Remove and place on a warmed platter and fill with any sort of cream desired, or jam or tart marmalade.

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Potage Julienne Homard Bordelaise Canard a la Reine Salade a la Russe Cafe Bavaroise

=Potage Julienne.=--Cut carrots, onions, leeks and turnips into thin slices or strips of equal size with a head of celery. Put all into two ounces of b.u.t.ter melted in a saucepan and toss over a slow fire for a few minutes. If desired other vegetables in season such as cauliflower, peas or asparagus may be added. Pour clear chicken broth over the vegetables, put in some pieces of cold chicken, allow to come to a boil, then simmer till the vegetables are tender and pour the whole into the tureen with sippets of toast.

=Homard Bordelaise.=--Cut a small carrot and an onion into fine pieces and boil for five minutes in a winegla.s.sful of red wine. Now add the meat from two lobsters, cut in small pieces, say, about a pound and a half. Season with a very little pepper, salt, and a trace of nutmeg, adding, just before the lobster is cooked, about half a pint of veloute sauce. Stew well together and serve at once.

=Canard a la Reine.=--Cut off one wing of a duck and half the breast from the same side, remove the skin, take out the bone and fill the place with quenelle forcemeat. Lard the breast and put it into a braising pan over slices of leeks, carrots and onions and a little thyme, chervil, bayleaves and lemon peel. Add sufficient stock to prevent burning, set the pan on the fire and braise the duck, then glaze it. Serve with a puree of beans for garnish.

=Salade a la Russe.=--Cut cold chicken and salmon into thin slices, arrange in a salad dish and mix with finely cut cooked asparagus heads, carrots and cauliflower, a few capers and a little caviare. The dressing is made with three parts of oil and one of vinegar, a little mustard and cayenne pepper and a tablespoonful of minced onion. Pour over the salad and stand on the ice till served.

=Cafe Bavaroise.=--Grind half a pound of green coffee, roast in a sugar boiler without burning it or even browning and soak a quart of milk with it for about an hour. Now stir into a cupful of flour a teaspoonful of castor sugar into which has been dropped a little vanilla extract, and a little salt. Stir this all in with the strained coffee-flavored milk, bring to a boil, remove from the fire and stir in the yolks, then the whites of three eggs, all beaten firm. Fill paper cases with the mixture, bake, sprinkle castor sugar over the tops and serve at once.

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Huitres a l'Americaine Buf a l'Aurore Pommes de Terre, Lyonnaise Salade Francaise Creme a la Russe

=Huitres a l'Americaine.=--Place in a sauce bowl a heaped teaspoonful of salt, three-quarters of a teaspoonful of white pepper, a medium sized onion, chopped, and a teaspoonful of minced parsley. Mix lightly together along with a teaspoonful of olive oil, six drops of tobasco sauce, a little Worcesters.h.i.+re sauce and a gill of vinegar. Put a teaspoonful of this mixture on each raw oyster just before taking to the table.

=Buf a l'Aurore.=--Season two steaks of about three-quarters of a pound each (any ordinary cut will do) with salt and pepper, baste on either side with a little oil and broil over a brisk fire for six minutes.

Place on a hot dish and serve with the following sauce poured over: Mix in a saucepan a small gla.s.s of mushroom liquor with half a pint of bechamel sauce, half an ounce of b.u.t.ter and two or three tablespoonfuls of tomato sauce. Place on the fire, stir for ten minutes and just before removing add whole mushrooms cut in squares.

=Salade Francaise.=--Chop fine a bunch of parsley, two small onions and six anchovies. Lay them in a bowl and mix with salt and mustard to taste, two tablespoonfuls of salad oil and a gill of vinegar. Stir all well together and then add, one at a time, some very thin strips of cold roasted or boiled meat, not more than three or four inches long. Shake the slices well in the dressing. Cover the bowl closely and allow to stand for at least three hours. Serve garnished with parsley.

=Pommes de Terre, Lyonnaise.=--Cut into round slices eight boiled potatoes, lay them in a frying pan with an ounce and a half of b.u.t.ter and the slices of a partly cooked onion. Season with salt and pepper and cook till the potatoes become well browned, tossing all the while. Serve with chopped parsley sprinkled over.

=Creme a la Russe.=--Put into a saucepan a pint of milk, half a pound of lump sugar, the grated rind of two lemons and an ounce of gelatine, previously soaked in water. Cook till the sugar dissolves over a slow fire, then allow the mixture to cool somewhat before stirring in the yolks of two eggs, unbeaten. Place on the fire to curdle. Strain, and when cool add the juice of the two lemons and the whites of the eggs beaten stiffly. Stir all well together and pour into a wet mould. Turn out when well set.

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Potage Napolitaine Truites a la Monbarry Croquettes de Pommes de Terre Celeri-rave en Salade Pouding aux Figues

=Potage Napolitaine.=--Boil in strong bouillon small forcemeat b.a.l.l.s made of any left-over game or meat. Then soak croutons in the same bouillon. Add the forcemeat b.a.l.l.s and serve.

=Truites a la Monbarry.=--Prepare several trout and lay them in a pan with a quarter pound of b.u.t.ter and some strong spices. Allow to heat slowly in an open oven and when the b.u.t.ter is entirely melted, drop on the trout two well beaten yolks of eggs. Grate cheese over this and cover all with a quant.i.ty of fine breadcrumbs. Brown lightly in a hot oven and serve.

=Croquettes de Pommes de Terre.=--Boil and drain about two and a half pounds of potatoes. Add a generous quant.i.ty of b.u.t.ter, yolks of two eggs, salt and pepper and the white of the eggs beaten to a snow. Beat the whole up briskly, shape the mixture into b.a.l.l.s and fry in a pan.

=Celeri-rave en Salade.=--Trim carefully a bunch of celery, leaving on as much of the root as possible. Cut in half and boil in salted water till tender. Then trim into even sticks and season it very piquantly with French mustard, a few young onions, pepper, salt and finely chopped parsley. Garnish with lettuce-leaves and slices of beet.

=Pouding aux Figues.=--Mix in a large bowl a cupful of breadcrumbs, half a cup of farina, a pinch of salt, a cup of suet, cut fine, a cup of powdered sugar, a minced carrot and a cup and a half of chopped figs.

Grease a baking mould, line it with whole figs, and empty the mixture into it. Cook for four hours, the pan standing in water. Serve hot with a rum sauce.

LET US EAT FISH

A FAMOUS FRENCH LUNCHEON a L'AMeRICAINE

Only in the Latin countries has fish as an edible ever been fully appreciated and, as is the case with most other things gastronomic, it is in France that the food possibilities of the denizens of the water have been brought nearest perfection.