CARROTS AU BEURRE, OR BUTTERED CARROTS.
(French.)
Either boil sufficient carrots for a dish quite tender, and then cut them into slices a quarter of an inch thick, or first slice, and then boil them: the latter method is the most expeditious, but the other best preserves the flavour of the vegetable. Drain them well, and while this is being done just dissolve from two to three ounces of butter in a saucepan, and strew in some minced parsley, some salt, and white pepper or cayenne; then add the carrots, and toss them very gently until they are equally covered with the sauce, which should not be allowed to boil: the parsley may be omitted at pleasure. Cold carrots may be re-warmed in this way.
CARROTS IN THEIR OWN JUICE.
(A simple but excellent Receipt.)
By the following mode of dressing carrots, whether young or old, their full flavour and all the nutriment they contain are entirely preserved; and they are at the same time rendered so palatable by it that they furnish at once an admirable dish to eat without meat, as well as with it. Wash the roots very clean, and scrape or lightly pare them, cutting out any discoloured parts. Have ready boiling and salted, as much water as will cover them; slice them rather thick, throw them into it, and should there be more than sufficient to just float them (and barely that), pour it away. Boil them gently until they are tolerably tender, and then very quickly, to evaporate the water, of which only a spoonful or so should be left in the saucepan. Dust a seasoning of pepper on them, throw in a morsel of butter rolled in flour, and turn and toss them gently until their juice is thickened by them and adheres to the roots. Send them immediately to table. They are excellent without any addition but the pepper; though they may be in many ways improved. A dessertspoonful of minced parsley may be strewed over them when the butter is added, and a little thick cream mixed with a small proportion of flour to prevent its curdling, may be strewed amongst them, or a spoonful or two of good gravy.
TO BOIL PARSNEPS.
These are dressed in precisely the same manner as carrots, but require much less boiling. According to their quality and the time of year, they will take from twenty minutes to nearly an hour. Every speck or blemish should be cut from them after they are scraped, and the water in which they are boiled should be well skimmed. They are a favourite accompaniment to salt fish and boiled pork, and may be served either mashed or plain.
20 to 25 minutes.