Lentils ‘al Riso.’
Cook the lentils as in ‘alla Provenzale.’ Then take half a pint of rice and put it into an earthen pot of boiling water. When cooked, drain the rice through a sieve, and stand it near the fire for ten or fifteen minutes to dry. Place two ounces of butter in a frying-pan, and when melted, add a small onion chopped up fine; when browned, put in the lentils and rice, and stir them over the fire for a quarter of an hour. Add a little salt and pepper, and serve up very hot.
Lettuce ‘Farcite.’
Cut off the roots, wash, and clean five or six lettuce heads. Put them into boiling water for five minutes, then fill the inside with force-meat. Tie the tops together, and put them in a sauce-pan, adding a quarter of a pint of Marsala sauce, and the same of good white broth. Add salt and pepper to taste, cover the sauce-pan with buttered paper, and cook in the oven for fifteen minutes. Place the lettuces on a hot dish (having untied them), pour the sauce over, and serve hot.
Lettuce ‘al Forno.’
Wash the lettuce, remove the faded leaves, and cut off the root. Tie the tops together, lay the lettuces side by side in a baking-pan, and pour in one and a half inches of stock. Cover the pan and put it in a moderate oven for half an hour, adding stock when necessary. Place a fork under the middle of each lettuce, raise and drain, and lay them doubled up on a hot dish. Season the gravy in the pan with butter, salt and pepper, thicken with one beaten egg, and pour it over the lettuce. Serve hot.
Lettuce ‘alla Spagnuola.’
Remove the lower leaves and cut twelve fine lettuces in half, blanch, then drain, and put them into a sauce-pan; sprinkle with salt, and cover them with slices of lard and ham, moisten with a little broth, cover the pan with greased paper, and cook in the oven. Drain and remove the fat, then roll the lettuces in the shape of prunes, and lay them on croûtons of buttered toast. Pour some sauce ‘Suprema’ (see Sauces, p. [125]) over them, and serve hot.