Luncheons: A Cook's Picture Book

by Mary Ronald

NO. 81. BEAN CROQUETTES.

BEAN CROQUETTES

Boil until tender a pint of dried beans which have been soaked overnight. Boil an onion in the water with the beans. Press the beans through a purée sieve. Season the purée with two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, two beaten eggs, a little pepper and salt, and a tablespoonful of parsley chopped very fine. If the mixture is still too dry add a little stock. Mold the purée into small croquettes. Cover the croquettes with egg and bread crumbs and fry them in smoking-hot fat. Serve with tomato sauce.

CHICKEN

CASSEROLE OF CHICKEN, No. 1

Cut tender chicken into joints. Remove the skin, put a tablespoonful of butter into a casserole. Lay in the pieces of chicken loosely with bits of butter between them, add the sautéd slices of one onion and a bouquet of herbs consisting of a small bunch of parsley, a bay-leaf, and a little thyme, wrap the parsley around the others and tie them together. Add also a few raw potato balls and, if convenient, a few fresh mushrooms. Sprinkle with salt. Lay two or three very thin slices of salt pork over the top. Cover the casserole and put it in the oven. At the end of half an hour turn the chicken carefully and return it to the oven to finish the cooking.

CASSEROLE OF CHICKEN, No. 2

Cut a chicken into joints, remove the skin, sprinkle the pieces with pepper and salt, and roll them in flour. Sauté the slices of one onion and a tablespoonful of butter; when they are tender remove and put them in the casserole, then put in the sauté-pan the pieces of chicken with a little more butter and sauté them to a golden brown on all sides. Place the chicken in the casserole. Add half a tablespoonful of flour to the sauté-pan; after it has cooked a minute stir in slowly one and a half cupfuls of water, or, preferably, stock, and stir until it is slightly thickened. Season with a saltspoonful of pepper and a half teaspoonful of salt. Turn the sauce over the chicken, add a bay-leaf, a few potato balls, and, if convenient, a tablespoonful of sherry and a few mushrooms. Cover the casserole, put it in the oven, and cook slowly until the chicken is tender. If the sauce becomes too dry add enough water or stock to make it the consistency of cream. If it is too thin leave off the lid and continue cooking until it is reduced. There should not be a great quantity of sauce.

PANNED CHICKEN

Split a spring chicken down the back, double the flippers under the back, and cross the legs as shown in illustration [No. 82].