Leaves from our Tuscan kitchen; or, How to cook vegetables

by Janet Ross

Chestnut Soup.

Peel some roast chestnuts, warm them in butter, moisten them with stock and white wine, and simmer over a slow fire until soft. Then pound them in a mortar, rub through a sieve, and mix with a thin purée of game. Heat in a Bain-marie, and serve with small croûtons (fried bread).

Lentil Soup. No. 1.

Soak one pint of lentils in cold water all night. Strain and wash them again, then put them in an earthen pot with two quarts of broth and simmer for one and a half hours. Fry one sliced onion, a little chopped parsley and thyme, and one bay leaf in two ounces of butter. Add these to the lentils and simmer for another half-hour. Rub through a sieve and boil, season with salt and pepper. Serve with croûtons (fried bread).

Lentil Soup. No. 2.

Put about half a pint of well-cleaned, dry lentils into boiling water in an earthen pot. Be careful to remove those which float to the surface. Leave the rest to cook until they are quite soft, then take them out and strain them. Meanwhile mix two or three anchovies, a bunch of parsley and some sage, and mix with some good oil in a sauce-pan. When well browned put in the lentils. Stir well, add more oil, and cook over a slow fire, stirring from time to time. When ready, mix in some strained stock, and serve with croûtons (fried bread).

Lettuce Soup.

Put the mealy part of four potatoes into boiling consommé, the blanched leaves of two heads of celery, one lettuce chopped up, one pint of green peas, and two large tablespoonfuls of flour well stirred in cold broth. Boil for one and a half hours, and serve with croûtons (fried bread).

Potato Soup ‘alla Provinciale.’

Boil and rub two pounds of potatoes through a sieve, put them in a sauce-pan with four ounces of good butter, a little salt, and half a tumbler of cream (or milk). Simmer until it is thick like Polentina (see p. [135]), then add six yolks of eggs to consolidate it to a paste. Cut into small dice, throw them into boiling soup, and cook for five minutes. Just before serving sprinkle a little grated Parmesan cheese into the soup.