Cook the rice in milk, adding a small quantity of butter, some salt, half a teaspoon of sugar and just a taste of lemon peel. Let the rice cool down after being thoroughly cooked, then add three yolks of eggs (for ¼ lb. of rice) and some flour. Mix well and let the whole rest for several hours. When about to fry, beat the white of the eggs to a froth, add to the rice mixing slowly, and put into the saucepan with a ladle.
28
FRIED ARTICHOKE
(Carciofi fritti)
Take two artichokes, cut out the hard part of the leaves and of the stalk, cut them in two. Then cut these halves into section or slices so as to have eight or ten for each artichoke, according to size. As you cut them, throw them into cold water and when they are well washed, dry them, but not thoroughly, putting them at once into the flour so that the latter remains attached to it. Beat the white of an egg, but not to a froth, then mix the yolk with the white and salt the whole. Shake out the artichokes to take away the superfluous flour and then put them in the egg, leaving them for a while so that the egg may be attached to them.
Throw the pieces one by one into the pan where there is boiling fat, butter or olive oil, and when they are well browned, take them away and serve with lemon. If it is desired that the artichokes remain white, it is better to fry them in oil and to squeeze half lemon into the water where the artichokes are put to soften.
29
STEAMED ARTICHOKES
(Carciofi a vapore)
Artichokes have been only recently imported to the United States, principally by Italian farmers, and they are just beginning to find their way into the American kitchen. The artichokes may be eaten raw or cooked. It is a healthy and palatable vegetable, easily digested when cooked. It is nutritious and adapted for convalescents. It may be prepared in a thousand ways, and here follow some of the simplest and most tasteful.