CURRANT SOUP
This soup may be made from any sort of fresh, tart fruit. It should be served for lunch perfectly cold, in either punch or bouillon cups. Put one pint of currants and one pint of water over the fire and bring to scald-point. Add half cup of sugar. Press through a purée sieve, return to the fire and add one tablespoonful of arrow-root, moistened in two tablespoonfuls of water. Bring to boiling point until the soup is clear, then stand away to cool. If you use wine, add two tablespoonfuls of white wine. Cherries, cranberries and strawberries may be used in the same way, adding more or less sugar, according to the kind of fruit, but these soups should not be sweet. Use just enough sugar to make them palatable.
Put three tablespoonfuls of cocoa into a double boiler, and add gradually one pint of boiling water. Stir for at least five minutes over the fire. Add four tablespoonfuls of sugar, take from the fire and add a teaspoonful of vanilla. Turn this into one pint of cracked ice, and when the soup is cold, turn into the serving cups, and put on the surface a tablespoonful of whipped cream, and serve.
Shell and blanch one pound of large chestnuts. Cover them with a quart of boiling water; add a slice of onion, piece of celery chopped, a bay leaf, sprig of parsley and a dash of paprica. Cover and boil thirty minutes. Press first through a colander; then add one pint of milk; return the whole to the fire. Rub together two tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour; add to the soup; cook a minute; add a palatable seasoning of salt, and then press the whole through a purée sieve. Make hot and serve with croutons.
Wash one quart of nice spinach. Pick each leaf from the stem and throw into a saucepan; stand over the fire for a moment, shaking so that the spinach will not discolor. Sprinkle over a teaspoonful of salt. As soon as the spinach begins to wilt, drain and chop very fine, then pound it to a paste. Put one quart of milk into a double boiler; add one teaspoonful of almond paste unsweetened, and two ounces of pistachio nuts chopped to a powder. Cover and cook twenty minutes. Add spinach, one tablespoonful of butter, one of arrow-root, moistened, and press through a purée sieve. Add a teaspoonful of salt, dash of paprica, and serve. Nice for green lunch.
YE FOOD FOR YE GODS
Peel half pound of good, fresh mushrooms; remove the lower part of stems. Wash the mushrooms, and chop them very fine with a silver knife. Put them in a saucepan, with one quart of good chicken stock. Cover and simmer gently thirty minutes; add teaspoonful of salt and simmer ten minutes longer. Put two tablespoonfuls of butter in another saucepan, add three tablespoonfuls of fine flour, mix and cook a minute without browning; add a half pint of thick cream to the mushrooms, then add the whole to the butter and flour, stir constantly until it just comes to boiling point; add dash of white pepper and serve in bouillon cups. Serve with whole wheat bread toasted in oven.