CHAPTER IX
Rice and Macaroni
BOILED RICE
Rice is one of our most nutritious foods, and it can be served in such a variety of ways it is one of the first things a child should be shown how to prepare. The very easiest (and cheapest) way is to wash and drain a cup of rice and then sprinkle it slowly into two quarts of boiling salted water. Without stirring, set it where it will simmer slowly, and by the time it has boiled down thick it should be tender enough to crush with the tongue. If not, add a little more boiling water and allow to cook a while longer, but if it is not stirred the grains will be whole and the rice will not stick to the pan as long as there is water enough to keep from burning. If it is to be served plain, with only cream and sugar, add a teaspoonful of butter and stir through lightly just before turning out in the dish for the table and sprinkle a little ground cinnamon over the top. This makes an easy and generally very acceptable dessert. It is particularly nice if turned first into cups to mold, and then served on a small dish with a spoonful of jelly or some preserve over the top.
CASSEROLE OF RICE
Rice cups are made by lining small well-greased baking-cups with the rice half an inch thick and filling with any kind of cold meat, chopped fine and seasoned. A thin layer of the rice is then spread over the top and the cups baked in a moderate oven for twenty minutes. By running a knife around the edge when done they can be turned out when cooked, and may be served on hot toast with either warmed-over gravy or tomato sauce.
RICE CUPS, (DESSERT)
The rice cups will be delicious for dessert, if instead of using cold meat they are filled with mince meat or raisins that have lain in cold water until they have swelled. When baked they are to be turned out on sauce dishes and served with a sauce made by creaming one-third cupful of butter with one cupful of brown sugar, flavoring with half-teaspoonful vanilla and heating in a double boiler until hot and creamy.
COMPOTE OF RICE
Take plain boiled rice, pack lightly in small cups, and put in a warm place for an hour to set. Turn out molded, and send to the table garnished with any kind of rich preserves,—preferably such large fruits as peaches, pears or plums.
Rice nicely cooked is often served in place of a vegetable and eaten with a fork from the dinner plate like mashed potatoes. It is a good thing for the little cook to learn all the different ways of cooking it, as often a small quantity left from one meal would prove most acceptable for another, if prepared differently.
FRIED RICE
The plain boiled rice intended to be served like a vegetable or for a simple dessert might not all be used. If a cupful were left it could be cut in thin slices and browned in butter for breakfast, or it could be stirred into the soup made from the left-overs, as described in one of our former lessons. The little maid must learn to use all her odds and ends, and a good way to teach her would be to ask her what she thought could be prepared from the small quantity of food left from a meal. While often there might not be enough for the whole family, there might be plenty for the few that happened to be home for the noon luncheon, or perhaps only enough for the school lunch that after a while gets to be such a hard thing for mother to fix up "in a different way."
RICE PUDDING
Rice pudding is one of the first desserts a child should learn to make, as it is so little trouble and always a favorite. She should first beat up thoroughly two eggs; add half a cupful of sugar, two cupfuls of milk, a little nutmeg, and stir through two cupfuls of cooked rice. If the rice has been standing long enough to stiffen, then, after washing her hands, she will have to work the rice through the custard with her fingers in order to remove any lumps. A half cupful of raisins or dried currants stirred in after the pudding is in the baking-dish will make it just that much nicer. In baking, leave in the oven until the pudding is firm, which will show when a silver knife stuck in the middle comes out clean. A custard is never baked enough that sticks to the knife and leaves it milky.
BOILED MACARONI
As there are many days, especially in summer, when macaroni can well take the place of meat, it is desirable that the small maid be taught how to prepare it attractively.
The macaroni is first broken in small pieces, washed and then boiled in salted water until tender—about twenty minutes. It can be tested with a fork. It is very good if simply drained when cooked, sprinkled with salt and pepper, dotted with lumps of butter and sent to the table piping hot.
MACARONI WITH CHEESE
Or it can be taken from the boiling water, put in a colander, rinsed with cold water, then arranged in a baking dish in alternate layers with grated cheese. Over the top pour one cup of hot milk in which has been stirred a teaspoon of butter and a beaten egg. This must be baked a light brown as quickly as possible, and served at once. It is not so good after it has stood.
If preferred, a cupful of white sauce can be used instead of the milk and egg.
MACARONI WITH TOMATO
For baked macaroni with tomato, have the little cook put in her baking dish first a layer of the cooked and rinsed macaroni, then a layer of tomatoes, either fresh or canned, but well seasoned, then another layer of macaroni, then one of tomatoes, and on the top sprinkle rolled bread crumbs. Scatter tiny lumps of butter all around, season again, and bake a light brown in a quick oven.
MACARONI PIE
But if she finds that she has a small quantity of cold meat on hand, beef, veal or chicken, she can put one layer of that through the middle of the macaroni, and she will have a surprise for her family—delicious, too. This is quite nice for wash-day dinner when it can be served with baked potatoes, at little cost of time or trouble.
In a series of cooking lessons of this kind, it is manifestly impossible to include directions for preparing all kinds of food, but I have outlined the work with the idea of teaching the children a great variety of dishes, believing that their success with these will stimulate them to try by themselves recipes found elsewhere.