Six ounces of rice, colourless vegetable stock, 2¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, 4 eggs, 1 teaspoonful finely-chopped parsley, 2¹⁄₂ ozs. onion (scalded and minced), ¹⁄₂ dessertspoonful chopped tarragon and chervil (mixed), 1 tablespoonful ground sweet almonds, 1 teaspoonful curry powder, Plasmon, breadcrumbs.
Method.—Put the rice into a saucepan of cold salted water; bring it gradually to boiling point and let it boil for six minutes, then rinse it in cold water, and cook it until quite tender in the vegetable stock; drain it well, and put it back into the saucepan with one ounce of butter to dry; season it with salt, pepper, and curry powder, and fill some buttered dariole moulds with it, pressing it in firmly and put aside to get cold. Then turn out the moulded rice; dip it in beaten egg and cover it thickly with very fine, dried breadcrumbs mixed with an equal quantity of Plasmon powder; mark the top of each with a small round cutter, and after allowing the crumbs time to dry, fry in boiling oil (or vegetable butter) until of a deep golden brown. Remove the marked portion from the cassolettes and carefully take out the rice from the middle, thus leaving little hollow cases; have ready some buttered eggs (prepared as below), fill the cassolettes with them, cover the top with the fried almond mixture, and put into the oven for a minute or two to ensure their being quite hot. Beat three eggs until they are quite frothy, add the parsley, half a teaspoonful of the onion, and the tarragon and chervil; season with celery salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and pour into a saucepan containing one ounce of warm butter; stir the eggs over the fire until they are sufficiently set, but be sure and remove them while they are still creamy, and use as directed. Fry the remainder of the onion with the almonds and curry powder in half an ounce of butter, until the onion is crisp and lightly browned, keeping the mixture stirred to prevent it from sticking to the pan and from acquiring too much colour.
CAULIFLOWER IN BATTER
A medium-sized cauliflower, butter, 2 tablespoonfuls flour, ¹⁄₂ pint milk, 1 egg, ¹⁄₂ teaspoonful baking powder, brown sauce, seasoning.
Method.—Put the flour into a basin, season with salt and pepper, make a hollow in the middle, and pour in gradually sufficient cold milk to form a perfectly smooth paste. Work this well with a wooden spoon, and then stir in the remainder of the milk; cover the basin with a cloth and leave it for two hours. Boil the cauliflower until it is just tender; drain all the moisture from it and divide it into small pieces and put into a buttered gratin (or pie) dish, and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Whisk the egg to a thick froth and add it to the batter, then stir in the baking powder and pour over the cauliflower; place a few pieces of butter on the top, and bake at once in a quick oven. Serve with the brown sauce in a tureen. Other vegetables of various kinds may be cooked in the same way.
CAULIFLOWER WITH CURRIED EGG SAUCE
A nice compact cauliflower, mashed potato, ¹⁄₂ pint curry sauce, 2 hard-boiled eggs, 2 tomatoes.
Method.—Boil the cauliflower until it is tender and drain it carefully on a hot, soft cloth. Make some mashed potato into a moderately thick, round cake and fry it in a small quantity of hot fat until it is nicely browned, then turn it on to a hot dish; place the cauliflower on it and cover the latter with the curry sauce, to which the eggs have been added after being coarsely chopped; garnish the edge of the dish with slices of fried tomato and serve directly it is ready. A recipe for curry sauce will be found on [page 104].
CAULIFLOWER WITH EGG-BALLS
One medium-sized cauliflower, 1 oz. butter, 1 oz. minced onion, 3 ozs. pine kernels, 1 gill white sauce, as many eggs as are required, some round croutons of fried bread, seasoning.