Two ounces of Swiss egg macaroni, milk, 1 oz. butter, 1 oz. flour, 1 small onion, some celery, 1 yolk, 1 tablespoonful tomato conserve, 1 tablespoonful Parmesan cheese, 1 tablespoonful minced Champignons, 1 whole egg, breadcrumbs, French beans stewed, seasoning.
Method.—Break the macaroni into small pieces and cook until tender in boiling milk and water with the onion, stuck with two cloves, a few pieces of celery (or a pinch of celery seed) and sufficient salt and pepper to season it. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour, and gradually moisten with a quarter of a pint of milk; when the sauce has boiled and thickened, remove the pan from the stove and add the tomato conserve, the cheese, yolk of egg and salt, pepper and nutmeg, then stir in the champignons and macaroni (which should be thoroughly drained) and spread out on a flat dish. When cold, form the mixture into rissoles on a floured board, then dip them into beaten egg and cover them thickly with breadcrumbs; when the latter have dried, fry the rissoles in plenty of boiling olive oil and serve them round some French beans prepared as follows: Select quite young beans, which have no fibre to remove but only the little piece from each end, and leave them whole. Butter a casserole and put in the beans; sprinkle some salt, pepper, and a dust of castor sugar over them, and pour in enough vegetable stock to cover them; put a greased paper over them before putting on the lid of the casserole, and let them cook in a moderate oven until done, adding a little more stock if necessary. Just before the beans are to be dished up place the casserole on the stove, add the yolk of an egg, which has been beaten up with a tablespoonful of cream, and stir the sauce until it thickens, then remove the casserole from the fire and add a squeeze of lemon-juice and a tablespoonful of chopped parsley and pile the beans neatly in the middle of a hot silver dish. Peas may be substituted for the beans if desired.
MOCK OYSTER CAKES
Some boiled salsify, mashed potato, seasoning, egg, Plasmon, breadcrumbs, white sauce.
Method.—Divide the salsify into small pieces of about the size of half an oyster and mix with half as much carefully-mashed potato; season well with freshly-ground black pepper, cayenne, salt, and a squeeze of lemon-juice, and add sufficient stiff white sauce to slightly moisten the mixture and add a small quantity of beaten egg. Spread the mixture out on a flat dish for an hour or two; then take rather less than a dessertspoonful at a time and roll it into a little ball on a floured board. Flatten the balls so that they take the form of little round cakes, dip them into beaten egg, and cover thickly with dry Plasmon powder and breadcrumbs, which have been seasoned with salt, black pepper, and cayenne; press them lightly between the hands to make the powder and crumbs adhere, and after allowing about twenty minutes for the latter to dry, fry the cakes in deep, boiling oil or vegetable fat, and serve garnished with fried parsley and little pieces of lemon. The potatoes should be baked in their skins, and then sieved and beaten to a stiff paste with a little cream, as the cakes would be spoilt if the potato mixture was moist and watery.
MUSHROOM CUTLETS WITH PURÉE OF LETTUCE
Half a pound of mushrooms (cleansed, peeled, and minced), 2 ozs. butter, 4 ozs. bread, 1 oz. onion (scalded and minced) 2 eggs, 1 gill cream, ¹⁄₂ teaspoonful parsley, seasoning, macaroni.
Method.—Fry the mushrooms in one ounce of butter with the onion for a quarter of an hour, stirring it frequently. Heat the cream to boiling point, and pour it over the bread (the crumb from a milk loaf or French roll is best), add the remaining ounce of butter and beat it to a paste, then add the mushrooms, parsley, and one egg; season with salt, pepper, and a little mace, and turn on to a flat dish to cool. When cold, take a small portion at a time and form on a floured board into cutlet shape; insert a piece of macaroni at the pointed end, brush the cutlets over with beaten egg, and cover them thickly with fine, dried breadcrumbs; put aside for about half an hour and then fry in oil or deep, boiling fat until the crumbs are crisp and nicely browned. Serve the cutlets either on a support of fried bread or mashed potato, with a purée of lettuce in the middle.
NUT CUTLETS
Six ounces of ground nuts (pine kernels and Brazil), 2 ozs. onion, 3¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, 6 ozs. brown bread, 1¹⁄₂ gills milk stock, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoonful parsley, 1 tablespoonful tomato sauce, browning, seasoning, Maggi’s vegetable essence, dried breadcrumbs, Plasmon.