ARTICHOKE SOUFFLÉ
Two ounces butter, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. flour, ¹⁄₂ pint milk, 2 eggs, ¹⁄₂ pint sieved artichokes, 1 dessertspoonful grated cheese, lemon-juice, salt, pepper, nutmeg, curry powder.
Method.—Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour gradually; when a smooth paste is formed, pour in the milk by degrees, stirring quickly all the time with a wooden spoon to prevent lumps forming, and continue the stirring until a perfectly smooth, thick sauce is made. Remove the saucepan from the fire and add the yolks of the eggs, beating one into the sauce before adding the other; then stir in the cheese (preferably Parmesan), a squeeze of lemon-juice, and season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a small saltspoonful of curry powder. Have ready some well-boiled Jerusalem artichokes which have been passed through a sieve, add a liberal half pint to the soufflé mixture, and then stir in lightly the whites of the eggs, whisked to the stiffest froth which can be obtained, and pour at once into a buttered china soufflé mould. Smooth the surface of the soufflé and pour a tablespoonful of warm butter over it and sprinkle it with dried breadcrumbs, which have been pounded and sieved, and bake at once in rather a quick oven for half an hour. Serve the soufflé with Brussels sprouts prepared as follows: Cook the sprouts in plenty of boiling water, seasoned with salt and two or three lumps of sugar, add a little piece of soda to improve the colour, and leave the cover off so that the steam may escape. Directly they are tender, turn the sprouts into a colander and then drain them on a cloth and put them into a hot pipkin. Melt half an ounce of butter in a small saucepan, add salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a dust (each) of castor sugar and curry powder and a teaspoonful of lemon-juice; pour the butter over the sprouts and leave them in the oven for a minute or two before sending them to the table.