Vaughan's Vegetable Cook Book Part 10

MUSTARD.

In early spring the young leaves are used as a garnish, or, finely cut, as a seasoning to salads. The Cabbage Leaved Mustard makes an excellent green, and is treated like spinach.

AROMATIC MUSTARD.

Upon one tablespoonful of grated horseradish, an ounce of bruised ginger root, and five long red peppers pour half a pint of boiling vinegar.

Allow to stand, closely covered, for two days; then take five teaspoonfuls of ground mustard, one teaspoonful of curry powder, and a dessertspoonful of salt, and mix well together. Strain the vinegar upon this, adding a dash of cayenne if wanted very pungent. Mix very smoothly and keep in a corked bottle or jar.

NASTURTIUM.

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The flowers are used to garnish salads, the young leaves and flowers make a lovely salad (See Flower Salad). The young buds and leaves when tender are made into pickles and are used like capers in sauces, salads and pickles.

NASTURTIUM PICKLES.

Gather the seeds as soon as the blossoms fall, throw them into cold salt water for two days, at the end of that time cover them with cold vinegar, and when all the seed is gathered and so prepared, turn over them fresh boiling hot vinegar plain or spiced with cloves, cinnamon, mace, pepper, broken nutmeg, bay leaves and horseradish. Cork tightly.

BOILED OKRA OR GUMBO.

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The long seed pod is the edible part of this plant, it can be canned or dried for winter use. If dried let it soak an hour or so before using.

To cook, cut the pods in rings, boil them in salted water until tender which will be in about twenty minutes. Add b.u.t.ter, salt, pepper and cream. Thin muslin bags are sometimes made to hold the whole pods without breaking. After boiling tender, pour them out, season with b.u.t.ter, salt and pepper and bake for five minutes.

FRIED OKRA.

Cut it lengthwise, salt and pepper it, roll it in flour and fry in b.u.t.ter, lard or drippings.

OKRA FRITTERS.

Boil the okra, cut in slices, make a batter as for batter cakes, dip the okra in and fry in plenty of hot lard.

MRS. E. C. DUBB.

OKRA GUMBO SOUP.

Use two quarts of tomatoes to one quart of okra cut in rings; put them over the fire with about three quarts of water and let the mixture come to a boil; take one chicken; cut it up and fry brown with plenty of gravy; put it in with the okra and tomatoes; add several small onions chopped fine, a little corn and lima beans, if they are at hand, and salt and pepper. Let all simmer gently for several hours. To be served with a tablespoonful of rice and a green garden pepper cut fine to each soup plate.

ONIONS.

Peel and slice onions under water to keep the volatile oil from the eyes. A cup of vinegar boiling on the stove modifies the disagreeable odor of onions cooking. Boil a frying pan in water with wood ashes, potash, or soda in it to remove the odor and taste of onions. To rub silver with lemon removes the onion taste from it. Leaves of parsley eaten like cress with vinegar hide the odor of onions in the breath.

Onions to be eaten raw or cooked will lose their rank flavor if they are pulled and thrown into salt water an hour before use. Two waters in boiling accomplish the same purpose.

ONION FLAVORING.

To prepare onion flavoring for a vegetable soup, peel a large onion, stick several cloves into it and bake until it is brown. This gives a peculiar and excellent flavor.

FRIED APPLES AND ONIONS.

Take one part onion to two parts apple. Slice the apples without paring, and slice the onions very thin. Fry together in b.u.t.ter, keeping the frying pan covered, to hold the steam which prevents burning. A very slight sprinkling of sugar seems to give an added flavor. Add just as it is to be taken up or else it will burn.

ONION OMELET.

Put a lump of b.u.t.ter or dripping in a frying pan, then put in sliced onions, salt and pepper, cook slowly until done, but not brown. Beat the eggs, allowing two for each person, pour in the frying pan, add a little salt and stir until set. Serve hot.

ONION PICKLES.

Choose small uniform onions; make a brine that will hold up an egg, and pour over the onions boiling hot. Let them lie in this twenty-four hours, then drain and wipe dry and put into bottles. Pour over them cold cider vinegar, seasoned with sliced horseradish, whole pepper and mace.

Put in bottles and seal.

BAKED ONIONS.

Boil in milk and water until just done, then drain and put them in a b.u.t.tered frying pan. Put a bit of b.u.t.ter, salt, and pepper on each one, and add a little of the water in which the onions have boiled. Brown them quickly and serve at once.

CREAM ONIONS.

Boil onions in two waters and drain; pour over them a little boiling milk and set over the fire, add b.u.t.ter, cream, salt and pepper and serve hot.

ESCALLOPED ONIONS.

Boil onions in salted water with a little milk until they are tender.

Put a layer of onions in a baking dish, scatter bread crumbs over them, dot with b.u.t.ter, season with pepper and salt and a dash of powdered sage, repeat this until the dish is full, pour over a half-cup of cream or milk. Cover the top with bread crumbs dotted with b.u.t.ter. Bake a light brown and serve.

STUFFED ONIONS.

Boil onions one hour in slightly salted water, and remove the centers.

Make a stuffing of minced liver or chicken in these proportions; to one pound of meat one third of a cupful of gravy milk or cream, one half-cupful of fine bread crumbs, one egg, pepper and salt and some of the onion taken from the centers, mix well and fill the onion sh.e.l.ls, dust over a few bread crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter and bake until brown. Put the remaining onion into a stew pan, with a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, a half-tablespoonful of flour, and after it boils up once, add a half-cup of milk, a teaspoonful of parsley, salt and pepper, boil up again, pour over onions and serve. This is a good second course after soup served with apple sauce.

PARSLEY.