The Myrtle Reed Cook Book Part 68

ESCALLOPED CUc.u.mBERS

Peel and cut into dice six large cuc.u.mbers. b.u.t.ter a baking-dish and put in a layer of the dice seasoning with grated onion and lemon-juice. Cover with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and season with paprika and celery salt. Repeat until the dish is full, having crumbs and b.u.t.ter on top. Cover and bake for an hour, then remove the cover, and brown. Serve with Sauce Piquante.

STUFFED CUc.u.mBERS

Peel and split large cuc.u.mbers lengthwise. Scoop out the pulp and fill with a stuffing made of cooked chicken chopped fine and mixed with soft crumbs seasoned nicely and moistened with a beaten egg or a little stock. Sprinkle with crumbs and put into a baking-pan with stock half an inch thick. Bake until the cuc.u.mbers are tender, basting frequently, and adding more stock if required. Thicken the gravy with a teaspoonful of cornstarch rubbed smooth in a little cold water and pour around the cuc.u.mbers when serving.

BROILED EGGPLANT

Peel and cut into thin slices and soak for an hour in cold salted water. Drain and dry thoroughly. Soak for half an hour in a marinade of olive-oil seasoned with salt and pepper. Add a little lemon-juice to the marinade if desired. Broil and serve with Maitre d'Hotel Sauce.

The slices may be dipped in egg and crumbs before broiling.

BAKED EGGPLANT

Parboil, cut off the top, and scoop out the pulp. Mash the pulp and cook it in b.u.t.ter, seasoning with salt and pepper. Take from the fire, add the beaten yolk of an egg and enough bread crumbs to make a smooth paste. Mix thoroughly, refill the sh.e.l.l, and bake, basting with melted b.u.t.ter. A slice of onion, finely chopped, may be fried with the pulp.

The egg may be omitted and the stuffing moistened with stock. Baste with stock when baking.

BAKED EGGPLANT WITH CHEESE

Cover two eggplants with boiling water and let stand for ten minutes.

Drain, peel, slice thin, cut each slice in four, season with salt and pepper, and fry. Cook together one tablespoonful each of b.u.t.ter and flour, add one cupful of milk and half a cupful of stock, and cook until smooth and thick, stirring constantly. Season with salt and cayenne. Put the fried eggplant into a b.u.t.tered baking-dish in layers, covering each layer with grated cheese and sauce. Have cheese on top.

Sprinkle with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and bake for twenty minutes.

FRIED EGGPLANT

Peel and slice an eggplant and soak over night in cold salted water.

Drain and cover with cold water for half an hour. Wipe dry, dip in seasoned flour, or in flour, beaten egg, and crumbs. Fry in deep fat.

Grated cheese may be mixed with the crumbs. Serve with White, Cream, Tomato, or Caper Sauce.

EGGPLANT FRITTERS

Peel, slice, cover with cold water, boil until soft, and drain; or, put into boiling salted and acidulated water. Mash smooth, add salt and pepper to season, two eggs well-beaten, and enough flour to make a thick batter. Fry by spoonfuls in deep fat.

ESCALLOPED EGGPLANT

Boil a large eggplant until tender, peel and mash. Season with b.u.t.ter, pepper, and salt. Add two hard-boiled eggs chopped fine and half an onion grated. Add two tablespoonfuls of bread crumbs, put into a b.u.t.tered baking-dish, cover with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and bake brown.

STUFFED EGGPLANT

Parboil a large eggplant for ten minutes, then plunge into salted ice-water and let stand for an hour. Make a forcemeat of half a cupful of minced boiled ham, a cupful and a half of bread crumbs, one egg well-beaten, and enough cream to make a smooth paste. Season with salt, pepper, minced parsley, and onion. Split the eggplant lengthwise, sc.r.a.pe out the pulp, and mix with the stuffing. Fill the sh.e.l.ls, tie together, and put into a dripping-pan with a cupful of stock. Cover and bake for half an hour, remove the string, and serve.

EGGPLANT a LA CReOLE

Peel a young eggplant, cut it into dice, and simmer for ten or fifteen minutes in half a cupful of boiling water. Drain and press out the liquid. Chop fine two onions, fry in b.u.t.ter, add the eggplant, salt and pepper to season, and one tablespoonful each of minced parsley and vinegar. Add also two heaping tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter. Put into a baking-dish, cover with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and bake for twenty-five minutes.

BOILED HOMINY

Soak a cupful of hominy for three hours in warm water, drain, and cook in fresh boiling water until tender, adding a pinch of salt. Drain and reheat for fifteen minutes with a pint of milk, seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook for fifteen minutes, add a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, and serve.

CURRIED LENTILS

Chop fine three large onions, two green peppers, and a clove of garlic. Brown half a pound of washed lentils in b.u.t.ter, add the chopped mixture and cold salted water to cover. Boil until tender.

Drain, add two sliced onions fried brown, two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, and a teaspoonful of curry powder. Serve with a border of boiled rice.

b.u.t.tERED MACARONI

Boil a pound of macaroni until tender, drain, and put into a deep baking-dish. Spread over it half a cupful of b.u.t.ter broken into bits, and one-quarter of a pound of cheese, grated. Season with salt, and pepper, mix thoroughly, and bake, or serve without baking.

MACARONI AU GRATIN

b.u.t.ter a deep baking-dish and fill with cooked macaroni, sprinkling each layer with grated cheese, and seasoning with pepper and dots of b.u.t.ter. Cover the top with cheese (Parmesan, which may be mixed with Swiss), dot with b.u.t.ter, and bake brown. Serve in the same dish. Milk or cream to cover may be poured over before baking.

MACARONI WITH BROWN b.u.t.tER

Reheat cooked and drained macaroni in melted b.u.t.ter, cooking until the b.u.t.ter browns. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, season highly with grated Parmesan cheese, and serve.

MACARONI AND OYSTERS

Arrange in alternate layers in a baking-dish cooked, broken, and drained macaroni, and oysters, seasoning with dots of b.u.t.ter and pepper and salt. Beat together the liquor drained from the oysters, one and one-half cupfuls of milk, and two eggs. Pour over the macaroni, cover with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and bake for half an hour; or, spread over the top a beaten egg mixed to a smooth paste with crumbs.

MACARONI a LA GALLI

Rub through a fine sieve a large can of tomatoes and simmer for three hours or until as thick as jelly. Chop fine half a pound of salt pork and a large onion and fry brown and crisp. Mix with the tomatoes, season with salt and cayenne, and pour over cooked macaroni. Serve with grated cheese.

BROILED MUSHROOMS

Dip cleaned and peeled mushrooms into melted b.u.t.ter, put on ice for fifteen minutes, and broil. Serve with melted b.u.t.ter and lemon-juice; or, broil, basting with bacon fat. If the mushrooms are strongly flavored they may be soaked in cold salted water for a few minutes before broiling.

MUSHROOMS BAKED WITH CHEESE

Parboil two cupfuls of cleaned and trimmed mushrooms in salted water for ten minutes. b.u.t.ter a baking-dish, put in the drained mushrooms, cover with a cupful of Cream Sauce, and sprinkle thickly with grated Parmesan or Swiss cheese. Cover with b.u.t.tered crumbs and bake brown.