Method.—Boil the beans in salted water until they are tender, drain them, remove the skins and rub them through a wire sieve; put them into a saucepan containing a small quantity of butter; add sufficient thick white sauce to bring them to a fairly soft consistency, then season with celery salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and make the purée hot. Then mould it on a hot dish into the shape of a thick oval cake, smoothing the surface, and with a spoon make as many little hollows (they must not be deep), at even distances, as there are eggs, and into each hollow put one of the eggs, prepared as below, and garnish the edge of the moulded beans with little triangular-shaped croutons of fried bread. Butter as many china egg-cookers as are required, and sprinkle sufficient of the chopped herbs and onion to cover the inside of each cooker. Break one egg at a time into a small cup and carefully turn it into the china case; put a little piece of butter on the top of the eggs, season them with celery salt, and pepper, then scatter some of the herb mixture over the surface, and bake in a quick oven from six to eight minutes, when the eggs should be sufficiently set to be easily turned out.
BROAD BEANS IN ITALIAN STYLE
One quart of beans, ¹⁄₄ pint sieved tomatoes, vegetable stock, 1 small onion, 2 ozs. butter, seasoning, potato border, 2 or 3 eggs, parsley.
Method.—Mince the onion and fry it in a stewpan until it begins to change colour (it must on no account be allowed to get brown) in one ounce of butter; then add a quart of shelled beans, which are still quite small, and pour in sufficient nicely-flavoured vegetable stock to cover them; place a sheet of buttered paper over them before putting on the lid, and let them simmer gently until they are tender, adding a little more stock if necessary, but when done it should be nearly all absorbed. Have ready a neatly-made border of mashed potato, which has been baked until brown in the oven, and the tomato pulp hot in a small saucepan; add the remaining ounce of butter to it and season with salt, pepper, and a dust of castor sugar; fill the border with the beans, pour the tomato pulp over them, scatter the surface with chopped parsley and garnish with little heaps of buttered egg.
BUTTER BEANS MOULDED
Eight ounces of butter (or haricot) beans, 1 small onion, 1 turnip, 1 carrot, chopped parsley, 2 ozs. butter, 1 egg.
Method.—Soak the beans for at least twelve hours in cold water, then boil them until tender with the vegetables and, after draining them thoroughly, pass them together through a wire sieve into a basin. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, add rather less than two ounces of butter and an egg, and beat the mixture for a few minutes, then press it into a buttered mould; tie a piece of greased paper over the top and stand it in the oven in a pan of boiling water and let it cook for three quarters of an hour. Leave the mould on the kitchen table for a few moments on taking it from the oven, then turn the contents on to a hot dish; scatter the chopped parsley over the top and serve with a dish of baked tomatoes filled with herb stuffing. Beans prepared in the same way may be made into rissoles and fried in boiling fat; in this case they should be served with tomato sauce.
BUTTER BEANS IN PASTRY CASE
Half a pound of short paste, ¹⁄₂ root of celeriac, ¹⁄₂ lb. butter beans, ¹⁄₂ pint white sauce (see recipe on [page 106]), ¹⁄₂ oz. butter, chopped parsley.
Method.—Line a buttered pastry ring (about six inches in diameter) with the paste, which should be a quarter of an inch thick, and fill it with about a teacupful of rice wrapped up securely in greased paper and bake in a quick oven. When done remove the rice and turn the pastry case carefully from the ring and place it on a shelf in the oven where the heat is moderate, for about five minutes; the appearance will be improved if the sides and edge are brushed over with egg before the case is put back in the oven. Serve it filled with beans, prepared according to the directions given below, and scatter the chopped parsley over the surface. If preferred a case of mashed potato can be used instead of the pastry; it should be brushed over with beaten egg and then browned in the oven. Cook the beans—which should have previously soaked for twelve hours in cold water—until they are tender, then drain them thoroughly, season them with salt and pepper and put them for ten minutes into a sauce made thus: Boil the celeriac (after cleaning and peeling it) in salted water until it is done, then pass it through a wire sieve and mix it with half a pint of carefully-prepared white sauce; make it hot, then add the beans and half an ounce of butter and use as directed.