Use one turnip, one Spanish onion, one cupful of stewed tomato, one and one half pound of potatoes; one half cupful of tapioca previously soaked, butter, pepper, and salt to taste. Cut turnip into dice and boil until tender, at the same time let tapioca cook clear. Cut potatoes up fine, and chop onion fine and scald. Place a layer of onion at bottom of buttered baking dish, then tapioca, on top of this, potatoes, chopped turnip, and tomato,—with a little butter on each layer; repeat this until the dish is full, and have a layer of potatoes at the top. Bake in hot oven for one hour, the last quarter remove cover; add layer of bread crumbs and brown.
WINTER VEGETABLE PIE.
Place in baking dish, slices of cold boiled potatoes, onions, celery, and carrot, then add one scant cupful of stewed tomatoes and one half can of peas. Cover with stock, thickened to a gravy with butter and flour, cover with plain crust, and bake. A pie of this nature can be made with a great variety of ingredients; apples, boiled chestnuts, onions, and potatoes make a good combination. Rice, with a grating of cheese, celery, onion, and tomato, another variety.
VEGETABLE HASH.
Of cooked and chopped vegetables, use one carrot, one blood beet, two turnips, two quarts of finely sliced potatoes, one onion, and a stalk of celery; one sprig of parsley; put them in a stew pan, cover tight, and set in the oven. When thoroughly heated pour over a gravy of drawn butter and cream. Stir together and serve.
NUT CROQUETTES.
Shell and grind one pound of English walnuts, add one teaspoonful of salt, and the juice of half a lemon, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, a dash of cayenne pepper; mix thoroughly. Place one cupful of milk in double boiler; rub one tablespoonful of softened butter with two tablespoonfuls of flour; when the cream is hot, stir in the flour and butter; cook until it thickens; season lightly.
Then turn the thickened cream into the nut mixture; have ready a well beaten egg and whip in; mix all together thoroughly. Set away to cool; when cold form into shapely rolls, dip in bread crumbs, then in beaten egg, again in bread crumbs, and fry quickly in hot fat. Be sure the fat is at right temperature,—see “Important Notes.”
BISCUIT PATES.
Make a nice light baking powder biscuit. Have ready, when the biscuits are done, one cupful of small mushrooms cooked tender and cut fine, dressed with one half cupful of cream, mixed with juice of mushrooms, and thickened with one teaspoonful of flour, blended with teaspoonful of butter; season to taste with salt and pepper. Take a thin slice off of the bottom of the biscuit, dig out the center, leaving reasonably thick walls, put little piece of butter in the shell and fill with mushrooms dressing; serve at once. Stale biscuit may be used by toasting them a few minutes in a hot oven after they have been hollowed out. These are crisp and some prefer them to fresh biscuit.