With Tomatoes and Rice.—Blanch half a dozen tomatoes, and skin them. Put them in a saucepan with a quart of broth, season with an onion sliced, three or four sprigs of parsley, one of thyme, half a dozen pepper-corns, a bay-leaf, two cloves, two cloves of garlic; salt and pepper. Boil gently till reduced to about two-thirds, then mash gently through a colander. It is understood by mashing gently, to mash so that all the liquid part shall pass through the colander, and the seeds and spices shall be retained in it and thrown away.
While the tomatoes are on the fire boiling, set four ounces of rice on the fire with cold water and salt, and boil it till tender. Drain the rice, put it in a saucepan with the tomato-juice after being mashed, set the saucepan on the fire, add one ounce of butter, a teaspoonful of sugar, both according to taste; to make the potage thin or thick, boil gently fifteen minutes, turn into the soup-dish, and serve warm.
The same may be done with canned tomatoes; in that case, set a can of tomatoes on the fire with the same seasonings, and proceed exactly as for the above in every other particular.
The same with Croutons.—Fry some croutons with a little butter, put them in the soup-dish; turn the potage, or rather the same mixture as above, over them; cover the soup-dish for two or three minutes, and serve.
With Tomatoes and Croutons only.—Fry the croutons and put them in the soup-dish; turn the tomatoes only over them, after being prepared as above; cover the soup-dish for two or three minutes, and serve.
Purée à la Reine.—Procure a rather old chicken and cut it in pieces as for fricassee; set it on the fire in a saucepan with about a quart of cold water, salt, and boil gently about one hour. Then add about four ounces of rice, washed in cold water, continue boiling until the chicken is overdone and tender. Take the pieces of chicken from the pan, scrape the flesh off the bones; cut the white flesh (the flesh that is on both sides of the breast-bone) in dice, and put it in the soup-dish; chop fine all the other flesh, and then mash it through a sieve or strainer, together with the rice. If it be rather too thick to mash through, moisten it with broth. A large iron spoon is the best utensil to mash through with. Then set the rice and flesh back on the fire in a saucepan with broth to taste, stir and add immediately from two to four ounces of butter, a gill of cream, or, if not handy, a gill of milk. Keep stirring on a slow fire for five or six minutes; salt to taste, turn into the soup-dish, and serve.
There is no danger of curdling if kept on a slow fire and not allowed to boil.
The same with Broth.—To make the potage richer, cook the chicken and rice in broth instead of water, and proceed as above for the rest.
The same with consommé.—The chicken and rice may also be cooked in consommé, and when mashed through the sieve, add consommé also instead of broth, and you have an exceedingly rich soup. This is excellent for persons having throat diseases; it is easily swallowed, and very nutritious.
The same à la Française.—The potage purée à la française is the same as that à la reine, with the addition of quenelles of chicken.