Salads, Sandwiches and Chafing-Dish Dainties — Dishes largely Vegetarian
=Macaroni à la Italienne.
= Have ready one-fourth a pound of macaroni, cooked until tender, but not broken, in boiling salted water, and then drained, and rinsed in cold water.
Make a sauce of two tablespoonfuls of butter, one tablespoonful of flour, one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of salt and paprica, half a cup of well-seasoned stock and half a cup of well-reduced tomato pulp.
Add the drained macaroni and stir occasionally, while it becomes thoroughly heated, then add one-fourth a cup of grated Parmesan cheese.
Lift the macaroni with a fork and spoon so as to mix thoroughly with the cheese, and serve at once.
Strain the tomatoes through a sieve sufficiently fine to keep back the seeds, and cook the pulp, very slowly, until reduced to at least half its bulk.
A more hearty dish may be served by adding, just before the cheese, three-fourths a cup of cold tongue cut in thin slices and then stamped into small fanciful shapes with a French cutter; or the tongue may be cut simply in small cubes.
=Asparagus Peas.
= Scrape the scales from the stalks of asparagus and cut the tender portions into pieces one-fourth an inch long.
Cook in boiling salted water until tender; drain, and keep the peas hot.
For three cups of peas make one cup of drawn-butter sauce, using as liquid the water in which the asparagus was cooked, or white stock.
Add the peas to the sauce;
beat the yolks of two eggs, add half a cup of cream, and stir into the sauce and peas; add, also, one tablespoonful of butter.
Serve on croutons of fried bread, or in cases made of shredded-wheat biscuit.
=Fresh Mushrooms and Sweetbreads.
= Soak one pair of sweetbreads in cold water; cover with boiling salted water and let boil three minutes, then simmer twenty minutes; cool, and cut in small cubes.
Sauté in two tablespoonfuls of hot butter sufficient mushroom caps, peeled and broken into pieces, to make with the sweetbreads two cups and a half.
Make a sauce in the blazer, using one-fourth a cup, each, of butter and flour, one cup of chicken stock and half a cup of cream; add the sweetbreads and mushrooms, one tablespoonful of lemon juice, and, if desired, the yolks of two eggs, beaten and diluted with one-fourth a cup of cream or sherry.
Serve on toast, in patty cases, or in cases of shredded-wheat biscuit.
=Mushroom Cromeskies.
= (See cut facing page 198. ) Peel the caps of fresh mushrooms; wrap each mushroom in a slice of bacon, pinning the bacon around the mushroom with a wooden toothpick.
Sauté in a hot blazer and serve on toast.
These are particularly good, cooked in a hot oven in a double broiler resting over a baking-pan.
=Creamed Mushrooms.
= Wipe carefully half a pound of mushrooms; peel the caps and break them in pieces.
Reserve the stems for another dish.
Melt three tablespoonfuls of butter in the blazer and in it sauté the mushrooms; dust with salt and pepper, add two tablespoonfuls of flour, and, when cooked in the butter, one cup of cream, gradually; stir until the sauce boils, let simmer a few minutes, then serve with toast or crackers.
=Artichokes à la Bordelaise.
= (MRS.
E.
M. LUCAS.
) Put one-fourth a cup of butter and half a cup of sifted bread crumbs into the blazer and light the lamp; when the crumbs are well moistened with the butter, add a teaspoonful of fine-minced parsley, one pint of cooked artichokes cut into small cubes, half a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of cayenne and half a pint of rich, sweet cream.
Let boil up once and put out the flame; add a teaspoonful of lemon juice and half a teaspoonful of the grated rind of a lemon (or omit the grated rind);
stir well and serve at once.
=Puff-balls Sautéd. = Heat three tablespoonfuls of butter or oil in the blazer.
Cut the puff-balls in slices half an inch in thickness, season with salt and pepper, dip in egg and bread crumbs, and sauté in the blazer to a golden brown.
=Mushrooms and Macaroni.
= (_Italian style.
_) Put one tablespoonful of butter and one teaspoonful of lemon juice into the blazer; add a dozen peeled mushrooms, broken into pieces and blanched, and cook slowly, covered, five or six minutes.
Then add one cup and one-fourth of milk, and, when scalded, stir in two tablespoonfuls, each, of butter and flour, creamed together.
When the sauce boils, add one-fourth a pound of macaroni, cooked and blanched in the usual manner; heat over hot water, and, just before serving, add one-fourth a cup of grated cheese.
=Canned Peas with Egg.
= Rinse, drain, and rinse again in boiling water one can of peas.
Add two tablespoonfuls of butter, one teaspoonful of sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of pepper.
Beat the yolk of an egg, dilute with four tablespoonfuls of cream, and stir into the peas.
Serve as soon as the egg thickens slightly.
[Illustration: Mushroom Cromeskies.
(_Ready for cooking.
_) (See page 197)] [Illustration: Prune Toast.
(See page 217)] =Curried Vegetables.
= Make a sauce of one-fourth a cup, each, of butter and flour, one tablespoonful of curry powder, half a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper and a pint of milk; add half a teaspoonful of onion juice, one cup of cooked peas, half a cup, each, of potato balls, turnips cut into cubes or fanciful shapes, and carrots cut into straws.
=Potatoes à la Maître d'Hôtel.
= INGREDIENTS.
1 pint of potato balls, cut with French cutter, and cooked tender, may be used either hot or cold.
1 cup of milk.
2 tablespoonfuls of butter.
2 yolks of eggs.
1 tablespoonful of lemon juice.
1 tablespoonful of parsley, finely chopped.
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.
A dash of pepper.
_Method.
_--Heat the milk and potatoes in the blazer over hot water.
Cream the butter and add the yolks of the eggs, beating them in well;
add the parsley and seasonings, mix thoroughly, and, when the potatoes are hot and have absorbed part of the milk, stir the egg and butter into them; add the lemon juice and serve at once.
=White Hashed Potatoes.
= Butter the blazer and put into it about three cups of cold chopped potato, salted during the chopping.
Pour over the potato a little hot stock, or water, and scatter some bits of butter over the top.
Cover, and cook slowly, without stirring or browning, until thoroughly heated.
=String Beans à la Lyonnaise.
= Melt three tablespoonfuls of butter in the blazer; add a fine-sliced onion and sauté to a delicate brown; add a quart of string beans, cooked, a dash of pepper, a grating of nutmeg and a little salt; heat thoroughly, tossing the beans occasionally; add a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, a tablespoonful of lemon juice and another tablespoonful of butter, in bits, and serve at once.
=Tomato Sandwich.
= INGREDIENTS.
6 shredded-wheat biscuit.
4 medium-sized tomatoes.
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.
8 teaspoonfuls of sugar, or 8 teaspoonfuls of mayonnaise dressing.
_Method.
_--Peel the tomatoes, cut in small pieces, add the salt, and sugar, if used, and set aside in a cool place.
Split the biscuits, dip the inside lightly into cold water without wetting the outside, put the halves together, and arrange in a buttered blazer; cover, and heat over hot water; then separate the halves, and, using a knife dipped in hot water, spread with butter.
Put a layer of tomatoes on the bottom half, if sugar has not been used, add the salad dressing, and cover with the top of the biscuit, pressing it down lightly.
=Kornlet Oysters.
= To one cup of kornlet add two well-beaten eggs, two tablespoonfuls of flour, a scant half teaspoonful of salt and a dash of paprica.
Drop, by spoonfuls, into a hot, well-oiled blazer and cook to a golden brown, turn, and brown the other side.
=Kornlet Oysters, No. 2. = To one can of kornlet add a teaspoonful of soda, two well-beaten eggs, salt and pepper, and enough fine cracker crumbs to hold the mixture together.
Drop from a spoon and cook as above.
