Cookery for Little Girls

by Olive Hyde Foster

CHAPTER VII

Different Kinds of Vegetables

A mother can make the cooking of potatoes and the plainer vegetables interesting if she will use a little tact and stimulate the child's desire to make, first, as many different dishes from each article as possible, and second, to make them as appetizing as she can. Doubtless many a girl who will not eat plain food now could be taught to like things by getting her interested in cooking, for then she has to taste and make sure she has seasoned properly.

TURNIPS, CARROTS

Such winter vegetables as turnips, carrots and parsnips should be well washed, peeled, cut in small pieces and cooked in boiling salted water for sixty minutes, more or less, depending on the age of the vegetables, as the older they are the longer they will take to get tender. When sufficiently cooked they should be drained and may then be mashed, seasoned with pepper and salt and butter and served in a hot covered dish. Or if preferred they can be left in the cubes and served with our little cook's favorite white sauce poured over. If mashed they are to be served on the dinner plate, but if in cream sauce they will have to be put in individual sauce-dishes.

PARSNIPS

Plain boiled parsnips are delicious if cut in slices and fried in butter, as they acquire a sweetness not brought out in any other way of cooking. If the left-over quantity is mashed, it can be made into little flat cakes and browned in butter. The child should be encouraged to think of as many different ways as possible and then allowed to experiment and see the result.

WINTER SQUASH

Winter squash is good prepared in the same way as the mashed parsnips—that is, plain boiled and then mashed, but I prefer the Hubbard variety, cut in large squares and baked in the shell—without being peeled. Season before putting on the oven shelf, spread with a little butter and add a slight sprinkling of granulated sugar. This will take about three-quarters of an hour to bake, and should be a light brown over the top. The child may have some difficulty in cutting a Hubbard squash, as it is so hard, but she can prepare it after it has been cut for her.

DRIED LIMA BEANS

Put to soak half a pound of dried Lima beans in a small quantity of cold water. Next morning set where they will simmer slowly for two hours in salted water enough to cover. At dinner-time drain, and serve on the dinner plates simply seasoned with butter, pepper and salt. Or, if preferred, they can be served in sauce dishes, with white sauce.

BOILED CABBAGE

A nice way to serve cabbage hot is to chop fine after it has soaked half an hour in cold water, put on in boiling salted water, and cook in an open kettle with a pinch of soda, about forty minutes or until tender. Then drain and serve immediately with butter, pepper and salt, or with white sauce. Some people prefer to add simply a little vinegar, so find out the family taste.

BAKED BEANS

For a small family, soak one pint of the small navy beans over night, and next morning boil gently until nearly tender. Drain, throw away that water, and add a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoon of molasses and a cupful of boiling water. Cut a quarter of a pound of salt pork in small pieces, put half of the beans in a baking dish, add a layer of half the pork, fill up with the rest of the beans and lay the rest of the pork around over the top. Cover the beans with boiling water, put a tin over the dish, and bake a number of hours,—the longer the better. As the water boils away, add enough more to keep from burning, and half an hour before serving, uncover and allow to brown over the top. If a slow fire is going in the range, the beans will be the better for cooking most of the day, but they must be watched to keep from burning. However, they will taste very fine if boiled longer at first,—until perfectly tender, and then baked only an hour.

CREAMED ONIONS

Peel off the outside skin, cover with boiling water, cook five minutes, drain, and cover with fresh boiling water, well salted. Cook until tender, the length of time depending on the size, then drain and serve in a hot covered vegetable dish with white sauce, made while the onions were cooking.

BAKED ONIONS

First boil as above directed, then lift into a piepan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, place a small lump of butter in a little hole on top of each, and bake until brown.

ASPARAGUS

With the coming of the spring vegetables will be opened a new field for the child to explore. Asparagus, one of the first in the market, is considered one of the choicest, and it is also one of the most easily prepared. To retain all the delicate flavor many people think it should be served plain. For this, tie the asparagus in bunches, after washing carefully and snapping off the tough ends. Set upright in a deep kettle and pour over boiling salted water enough to reach nearly to the tips, but do not cover. The tender ends will cook enough at first, for ten minutes, in the steam, and then the bunches should be turned down sideways for thirty minutes more. Lift carefully with a skimmer, allowing the water to run off, lay on a hot platter, remove the strings and serve immediately with tiny lumps of butter and a dash of pepper over the top. Or the asparagus can be first cut in small lengths, boiled until tender in salted water, then drained, laid on hot toast and covered with cream sauce. As mentioned before, the water in which it has been cooked can be set away to be used for soup, with a few tips added if desired.

CUCUMBER JELLY

Take one pint of well-seasoned bouillon, and while still warm, add the quantity of gelatine stated on the package necessary to make one pint of jelly, and when thoroughly dissolved, set away until it begins to stiffen. Then slice one cucumber, after peeling and ridging the sides, season with salt and pepper, and lay in vinegar for a moment. Rinse out the mould in cold water, lay around the cucumber in any pattern desired, and fill up the mould with the thickening jelly. Leave on ice after set, until ready to serve.

STRING BEANS

Wax or string beans should be snapped in small pieces and all strings removed, then washed and put on to boil in hot salted water. Cook until tender (generally this requires about forty minutes), drain and serve in a hot dish with butter, pepper and salt, or, if preferred, the cream sauce. Our young cook will have many opportunities to use her recipe for white sauce with the spring vegetables, for almost all kinds are improved when it is added.

PEAS AND LIMA BEANS

Peas and Lima beans, after being shelled and covered with salted boiling water, are cooked until tender (forty to sixty minutes) and then served either plain, as directed for the beans, or with the cream sauce, which, by the way, is better for such vegetables if thinned with more milk than when used in other ways.

CAULIFLOWER

Cauliflower, after being carefully washed, should be tied up in a piece of cheese-cloth to keep the shape, and after soaking for an hour in cold water, cooked in boiling salted water at least half an hour. When tender, it should be carefully lifted to the vegetable dish and the cream sauce poured around the base. A little chopped parsley scattered on top the sauce improves the appearance.

BEETS

Young beets have to be washed carefully to avoid breaking the skin, and have roots and half an inch of the tops left on while cooking. They should be kept covered with salted boiling water, and cooked until tender, allowing at least an hour for new beets, and possibly even three for old. When perfectly tender (on being tried by the prong of a kitchen fork), remove from the fire, drop into cold water for a moment to cool enough to slip off the skins, and then slice in a hot dish. They can be served plain, with butter, pepper and salt, although our grandmothers preferred the addition of a few spoonfuls of warm, thick cream. Many, however, like a little vinegar instead.

TOMATOES

Baked tomatoes are made by taking the fresh tomatoes, scooping out the centers and mixing with bread crumbs, seasoning with butter, pepper and salt, and then refilling the shell, sprinkling a few crumbs on top. They require about twenty minutes to bake, and can be served on rounds of toast, with cream sauce. In winter, however, canned tomatoes, alternated with layers of buttered bread, seasoned with butter, pepper and salt, are nice baked in a dish, with crumbs browned over the top.

GREEN CORN

Green corn "on the cob" must first have the husks and silk carefully removed and then be dropped into boiling salted water and kept boiling (under a cover) for from ten to twenty minutes, according to the age of the corn. If very fresh and tender, it will cook quickly, but it should be served as soon as removed from the water.

CORN OYSTERS

Any corn left from a meal can be grated off the cob and used for corn oysters. To one cupful of corn, add half a cup of milk, one beaten egg, half a teaspoon of salt, and one tablespoon of melted butter. Into this stir one-half cup of sifted flour, and bake like pancakes on a hot, well greased skillet. Be careful to avoid too hot a fire or they will scorch on the bottom before cooking through, and they must not be raw in the middle. It may be necessary to put a little extra butter in the pan when they are turned, but they have to be watched carefully all the time.

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