Potatoes ‘all’ Olandese.’
Peel six large, cold, boiled potatoes, cut them into dice, and throw them into boiling water for five minutes. After draining, place them in a sauce-pan with two ounces of butter on a moderate fire, or in a slow oven, and shake them occasionally, until the potatoes have absorbed the butter and are soft. Serve on a hot dish with sauce ‘Olandese’ (see Sauces, p. [124]).
Potatoes ‘alla Panna.’
Boil eight or ten large potatoes, and cut them up when cold into small dice. Melt four ounces of butter in an earthen dish with one tablespoonful of flour, then mix in one pint of fresh cream (or milk), a little salt and pepper, and a small pinch of nutmeg. Stir well together until it boils, then put in the potatoes, add some grated bread-crumbs and bits of fresh butter, and cook over a brisk fire until they have turned a good yellow colour. Serve up hot in the earthen dish.
Potato Pudding.
Mash twelve large boiled potatoes in a sauce-pan with four ounces of butter, two tumblers of cream, a pinch of salt, and a tablespoonful of flour. Then rub through a sieve, adding four ounces of white powdered sugar, a little cinnamon, the yolks of four eggs, with their whites beaten to a froth. Mix well, put into a well-buttered mould thickly sprinkled with bread-crumbs, and bake for three-quarters of an hour until browned.
Potato Pudding with Mushrooms (Budino con Prugnuoli).
Peel eight or more potatoes, cut them into quarters, wash, and boil them in salted water with half a lemon; take them off the fire before they are over-cooked. Then strain through a sieve, put them into a large dish, and mash them well with a wooden spoon. Add two ounces of fresh butter, and pour in half a tumbler of cream (a little at a time). Beat up well with the spoon until the paste is smooth, then add three or four well-beaten-up yolks of eggs. Butter a mould and pour in the potato paste, make a hole in the centre, put small whole mushrooms into it, cover them with a piece of the paste, and cook in the oven. When baked, turn out the pudding on to a dish and serve hot.
Potatoes ‘in Ragoût.’
Cut six fine potatoes into dice, and put them into boiling water with six sliced leeks. Boil for ten minutes, then drain. Boil half a bunch of asparagus, drain, cut off their heads, and add them to the potatoes and leeks, mixing well together. Meanwhile put two ounces of butter, one pint of milk, one tablespoonful of chopped chervil, pepper and salt to taste, into a sauce-pan, mix slowly over the fire until hot, then pour over the potatoes, leeks, and asparagus, and boil the whole together. Serve very hot.