Cut six hard-boiled eggs into bits, mix with a cup of white sauce, and put in small baking-dishes which you have buttered. Cover over with fine, sifted bread-crumbs, and dot with bits of butter, about four to each dish, and brown in the oven. Stick a bit of parsley in the top of each, and put each dish on a plate, to serve.
BIRDS’ NESTS
Sometimes, when she wanted something very pretty for breakfast, Margaret used this recipe:
Break six eggs, putting the whites together in one large bowl, and the yolks into six cups on the kitchen table. Beat the whites till they are stiff, putting in half a teaspoonful of salt afterwards. Divide the whites, putting them into six patty-pans, or small baking-dishes. Make a little hole or nest in the middle of each, and slip one yolk carefully from the cup into the place. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over them, and put a bit of butter on top, and put the dishes into a pan and set in the oven till the egg-whites are a little brown.
OMELETTE
Making an omelette seems rather a difficult thing for a little girl, but Margaret made hers in a very easy way. Her recipe said:
Break four eggs separately. Beat the whites till they are stiff, and then wash and wipe dry the egg-beater, and beat the yolks till they foam, and then put in half a teaspoonful of salt. Pour the yolks over the whites, and mix gently with a large spoon. Have a frying-pan hot, with a piece of butter melted in it, and spread the butter over the whole surface; pour the eggs on and let them cook for a moment. Then take a kitchen palette-knife and slip under an edge, and look to see if the middle is getting brown, because the colour comes there first. When it is a nice even colour, slip the knife well under, and turn the omelette half over, covering one part with the other, and then slip the whole off on to a hot plate.
The cook had to show Margaret how to manage this the first time, but after that she could do it alone.
OMELETTE WITH MUSHROOMS
Take a few mushrooms or a bottle of champignons, and slice half of them into thin pieces. Make a cup of very rich white sauce, using cream instead of milk, and cook the mushrooms in it for one minute. Make the omelette as before, and cover with the sauce when you turn it over.