Colour for an instant in butter a chopped onion, add to it ½ lb. of rice; stir an instant over the fire until it begins to frizzle, but do not colour; add stock to 3 times the quantity of rice, a cupful of tomato sauce, a pinch of saffron, one of pepper, let it boil, cover the saucepan, and let it cook by the side of the fire for 20 minutes. If the rice becomes dry before it is sufficiently tender add a little more stock. Place the saucepan on the corner of the stove away from the hot fire, then add to the rice 2 ozs. of grated Parmesan cheese and the same amount of butter. Arrange the rice on a dish and pour over it some good gravy and serve very hot.
The brown rice now procurable in most large cities is liked by gourmets cooked in this manner and served with partridge and other game.
RISOTTO MILANAISE
Fry a tablespoon of minced onion in a good bit of butter; when slightly browned, add 4 or 5 tomatoes and 1 pimento; after cooking pass through a sieve and replace in the casserole with pepper, salt, and a dash of cinnamon, 2 or 3 chicken livers, or some beef cut into small pieces. Add 1 cup of rice and 1 qt. of stock or, lacking stock, water will do; boil until the rice is tender, when add ¼ lb. of cheese grated.
RAVIOLI
Prepare a paste made of 4/5 of a lb. of flour, a pinch of salt, 5 eggs, 2 spoonfuls of water. Cover with a cloth and let stand at least 15 minutes. Make a farce with cooked chicken or veal minced—about 2 cups—1 tablespoonful of finely minced cooked ham, ½ of a calf's brain cooked, yolks of 2 eggs, a dash of nutmeg, 1 dessert-spoon of grated Parmesan cheese. Take ½ the paste, roll out thin into a large square; place a ball of the farce every 2½ inches apart about the size of a walnut, moisten with a brush the paste between the balls of farce. Roll the rest of the paste and place it over the farce; press edges together and between each ball. Cut with a round cutter or into squares as preferred and cook in boiling water 7 or 8 minutes, drain them and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Put on a dish and pour a tomato sauce around them.