Pickled Fish.—Flour the fish and fry it in oil, and put it by to drain. Pound in a mortar 2 or 3 sprigs of mint, 1 capsicum (fresh, if possible), 2 cloves of garlic, and salt to taste; gradually work in some wine vinegar (say about 1 pint), put this sauce into a saucepan, let it boil for 5 minutes, pour it boiling hot on the fish, and serve when cold.
Puff Paste as used by the Nuns.—Take 1½ lb. flour, reserve a small quantity wherewith to dredge the pastry, break into it the yolks of 2 eggs and 1 white, add ½ glass of tepid water, and 1 spoonful butter. Knead the paste well, and roll it lightly out several times. Divide it into 2 or 3 parts; roll each piece out quite thin. Butter a tart mould, and put in the paste in layers, with butter between the layers. Cut off the edges all round the mould, and then with a sharp knife mark a round the size of the cover you wish to take off, leaving the bottom intact. Bake, and then remove the cover. Fill the tart with whatever you like, put on the cover again, and serve hot or cold.
Purses.—Take 1 lb. finest flour and 2 oz. butter, knead both together lightly with as many eggs as will form a smooth, stiff paste. Spread it out to the thickness of a penny piece, cut it out in round pieces 4 in. in diameter, place in the middle 1 teaspoonful any kind of well-flavoured mince, ready cooked; gather up each piece of paste, and tie it up with a thin strip of paste. The trimming can be rolled out again and again till all the paste is used, and any manner of device can be made with the paste. To cook these things have a deep frying pan, full of very hot lard, and plunge them in for more or less time, according to the size and shape of the device.
Ricotta.—Strain 1 gal. fresh whey into a flat copper pan, put it on a gentle fire, and as soon as a kind of froth begins to rise on it, add 1 qt. milk, and stir the mixture lightly with a stick until a thick froth rises all over the surface; gather this froth with a spoon, and put it to drain in a deep grass basket, or in a very fine tin colander, and the ricotta is made. It must be carefully avoided to let the milk and whey come to the boil at any time during the process.
Risotto.-¼ lb. rice, and boil it with sufficient salt in a little more water than will cover it, until the rice begins to swell; it must not get too soft. Then add a pinch of saffron, just to colour it, or, if possible, 1 tablespoonful tomato sauce; also about 1 oz. butter, and as much grated Parmesan; stir for a few moments and serve. This is for 4 people.
Zuchillo (Tomato sauce to dress maccaroni with).—Take about 1 lb. trimmings of beef, as much fat bacon, all cut into dice, an onion cut into dice, then thrown into cold water and squeezed dry in a cloth: add or not a clove of garlic, then put the whole into a saucepan, and let it remain on the fire, shaking it occasionally, till the onion is almost melted away; then add parsley, marjoram, thyme, pepper, and salt. Take a piece of “conserva” (tomato pulp dried in the sun to the consistency of damson cheese), cut it in pieces the size of a pea, put in the pieces a few at a time, always stirring the contents of the saucepan. The “conserva” must be fresh and soft; if it is old and tough, it must first be softened by kneading it with a little water. When sufficient “conserva” has been put in, moisten with water a spoonful at a time. Let the whole simmer some 10 minutes longer; then strain, remove superfluous fat, and the sauce is ready. To make “zuchillo” with fresh tomatoes, cut them in pieces, remove pips, water, and stalks, and then put in the pieces instead of “conserva,” a few at a time. In this case it is not necessary to moisten with water, but rather to let the sauce reduce, and to be careful not to put in fresh tomatoes until the first lot is somewhat reduced. Another way is to use either fresh or bottled tomato sauce, and put it in a spoonful at a time. The tomato sauce must be in the French form, with no vinegar in it.
Jewish.—Bola D’Amor.—Clarify 2 lb. white sugar; drop a spoonful into cold water to ascertain if it is of a proper consistency; form it into a ball, and try if it sounds when struck against a glass. When it is thus tested, take the yolks of 20 eggs, mix them up gently, and pass them through a sieve; then have ready a funnel, the hole of which must be about the size of vermicelli; hold the funnel over the sugar while it is boiling over a charcoal fire; pour the eggs through, stirring the sugar all the time, and taking care to hold the funnel at such a distance from the sugar as to admit of the egg dropping into it. When the egg has been a few minutes in the sugar, it will be hard enough to take out with a silver fork, and must then be placed on a drainer; continue adding egg to the boiling sugar till enough is obtained; place in a dish a layer of this paste, over which spread a layer of citron cut in thin slices, and then a thick layer of the eggs prepared as above. Continue working thus in alternate layers till high enough to look handsome. It should be piled in the shape of a cone, and the egg should form the last layer. It must then be placed in a gentle oven till it becomes a little set, and the last layer slightly crisp; a few minutes will effect this. It must be served in the dish in which it is baked, and is generally ornamented with myrtle and gold and silver leaf.
Amnastich.—Stew gently 1 pint rice in 1 qt. strong gravy till it begins to swell, then add an onion stuck with cloves, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a chicken stuffed with forcemeat; let it stew with the rice till thoroughly done, then take it up and stir in the rice the yolks of 4 eggs and the juice of a lemon; serve the fowl in the same dish with the rice, which should be coloured to a fine yellow with saffron.
Fish, fried.—Frying fish Jewish fashion, simple as it is, is rarely quite successful, except in a Jewish household. Lay the fish for about 20 minutes in water, in which put a small quantity of salt. Any fish will be nice this way—soles, plaice, or a not too thick slice of salmon. Dry the fish thoroughly with a perfectly clean cloth, and flour it lightly with the flour dredger. Have ready a frying-pan with some good frying oil, beat up 2 eggs and pour them into a plate or pie-dish; pass the fish through the eggs then plunge it into the boiling oil, and fry a light brown. Care must be taken that the oil is really boiling, or the fish will be soft and flabby.
Fish stewed with egg and lemon sauce.—A salmon head, or a slice or two of salmon or halibut, or cod, are the nicest for this dish. Put a little chopped parsley, a little onion, a very small piece of ginger, and a little saffron, previously dissolved in hot water, with some pepper and salt at the bottom of a saucepan. Cut up the fish in not too small pieces, and lay it on them: then cover with water, and let it cook slowly. When almost done, take the yolks of 7 eggs and beat them well; add to them gradually the juice of 5 lemons (strained), pour this very slowly over the boiling fish, gently shaking the saucepan to prevent curdling; directly the sauce thickens it is done.