Vaughan's Vegetable Cook Book Part 4

BAKED CAULIFLOWER.

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Boil cauliflower in salt water, separate into small pieces, and put in a baking dish, make a cream sauce and pour over it. Cover the mixture with bread crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter and bake a light brown.

BOILED CAULIFLOWER WITH WHITE SAUCE.

Cut off the stem close to the bottom of the flower and pick off the outer leaves. Wash well in cold water and let it lie in salt and water top downward for an hour to remove any insects which may be in the leaves. Then tie in a cheese cloth or salt bag to prevent its going to pieces, and put, stem downward, in a kettle of boiling water with a teaspoonful of salt. Cover and boil till tender, about half an hour.

Lift it out carefully, remove the cloth and arrange, stem downward, in a round, shallow dish. Pour over it a cream sauce.

FRIED CAULIFLOWER.

Take cauliflower cooked the day before, divide into small tufts, dip in egg and roll in cracker or bread crumbs, or make a batter in the proportion of one egg, two tablespoonfuls of milk and one tablespoonful of flour. Beat the eggs very light before adding to the milk and flour, and into this dip the cauliflower. Have the b.u.t.ter boiling hot in the frying pan, put in the cauliflower and fry a light brown, garnish with parsley.

PICKLED CAULIFLOWER.

Boil the cauliflower not too soft and break up into small tufts. Drain and put into bottles with horse-radish, tarragon, bay leaves and grains of black pepper. Pour over good cider vinegar and cork the bottle tightly.

CAULIFLOWER SALAD.

This salad is what Mrs. Rorer terms delicious served with her favorite French dressing. Take a head of cauliflower and boil in a piece of fine cheesecloth. Remove from the cloth, drain and sprinkle over it two tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar and stand aside to cool. At serving time break the head apart into flowerets, arrange them neatly on a dish; sprinkle over a little chopped parsley or the wild sorrel; cover with French dressing made as follows; put a half-teaspoon of salt and as much white pepper into a bowl; add gradually six tablespoons of olive oil. Rub until the salt is dissolved, and then add one tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice. Beat well for a moment and it is ready to use.

It is much better if used at once.

CAULIFLOWER SOUP.

Boil a head of cauliflower in water, or if convenient in soup stock or chicken broth. If water is used add an onion. Lift out the cauliflower, lay aside one half-pint of tufts. Mash the rest through a sieve using the water in which it was boiled to press it through. Put one large tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter over the fire in a saucepan and when melted stir in a large tablespoon of flour. Stir this into the puree until of a creamy consistency, add a pint of hot milk, a beaten egg, salt and pepper to taste and a little grated nutmeg if liked. Add the reserved tufts, simmer five minutes and serve.

CAULIFLOWER AND TOMATO SOUFFLE.

Boil cauliflower in salted water until tender, then drain and separate into tufts. Put in a b.u.t.tered baking dish a layer of tufts, then a layer of tomatoes, salt and pepper the tomatoes. Continue these alternate layers until the dish is full. Make a boiled sauce of two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, one and one half-tablespoonfuls of flour, one cup of milk, and the yolks of two eggs, lastly add three tablespoonfuls of grated cheese and the beaten whites of the two eggs. Pour into the baking dish and cover all with a layer of bread crumbs dotted with bits of b.u.t.ter.

Bake one half hour.

TO CRISP CELERY.

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Let it lie in ice water two hours before serving. To fringe the stalk, stick several coa.r.s.e needles into a cork and draw the stalk half way from the top several times, and lay in the refrigerator to curl and crisp.

CELERY A LA VERSAILLES.

Cleanse two or three heads of well-blanched celery and trim them nicely, leaving on just as much of the stalk as is tender; parboil the vegetable in well-salted water, then rinse in cold water and drain on a sieve.

Have about a pint of boiling white stock ready in a saucepan, lay in the celery, with a large onion cut in quarters and a good seasoning of salt and pepper, and cook very gently until the celery is quite tender, then drain the vegetable carefully on a napkin so as to absorb the moisture, and cut each head into quarters lengthwise. Fold the pieces into as neat a shape as possible and make them even in size; mask them entirely over with thick bechamel sauce and allow this latter to stiffen; then dip the pieces in beaten egg, roll thickly in fine white bread crumbs, and fry in boiling fat. When sufficiently browned, drain on blotting-paper, and pile up high in the center of a hot dish covered with a napkin. Garnish with sprigs of fried parsley and serve.

CELERY-POTATO CROQUETTES.

To a pint of mashed potatoes add half a teacup of cooked celery, season with a tablespoon of b.u.t.ter, half a teaspoon of salt, a dash of white pepper; add the yolk of one egg. Roll in shape of a small cylinder three inches long and one and a fourth inches thick. Dip them in the beaten white of egg, roll in cracker or bread crumbs and fry.

CHICAGO RECORD.

CELERY AU GRATIN.

Wash and trim four heads of celery; set in a stewpan with a teaspoonful of vinegar, salt and cold water; boil until tender and drain dry. Make some sauce with a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, the same quant.i.ty of flour and half a pint of milk. Cook while stirring till it thickens; add the yolk of one egg and a tablespoonful of grated cheese; stir the sauce, but do not let it boil. Arrange the celery in a pie dish, sprinkle bread crumbs over and little bits of b.u.t.ter; cover with sauce and brown in the oven. Serve in the dish in which it is cooked.

CHICAGO RECORD.

CELERY SALAD.

Take the inner and tenderest heads of three stalks of celery, cut them into strips an inch long and about the thickness of young French beans.

Rub the salad bowl lightly with shallot. Mix the yolks of two hard boiled eggs with three tablespoonfuls of salad oil, one of tarragon vinegar, a little mustard and pepper and salt to taste. Add the celery to this sauce, toss well with two silver forks, garnish with slices of hard boiled eggs. If you have any cold chicken or turkey, chop it up, and mix with some of above in equal proportions; or a few oysters will be a great addition.

STEWED CELERY.

After celery is cut up and soaked in cold water for fifteen minutes, then cooked until tender, it must be drained in the colander, thrown into cold water to blanch and become firm, and then thoroughly heated in a white sauce. If the cold bath is neglected the result will be flat and discolored instead of white and crisp.

CELERY SOUP.

The ingredients are two heads of celery, one quart of water, one quart of milk, two tablespoonfuls of flour, one teaspoonful of salt, two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and a dash of pepper. Wash and sc.r.a.pe celery and cut in half inch pieces, put in boiling water and cook until soft.

Mash the celery in the water in which it is boiled and add salt and pepper. Let the milk come to a boil; cream together the b.u.t.ter and flour and stir the boiling milk into it slowly; then add celery and strain through a sieve mas.h.i.+ng and pressing with the back of a spoon until all but the tough fibres of the celery are squeezed through. Return the soup to the fire and heat until it is steaming when it is ready to serve.

BOILED CELERIAC.

Pare the roots and throw them into cold water for one half hour. Cut into squares, boil in salted water until tender and serve with a b.u.t.ter or cream sauce.

CELERIAC SALAD.

Boil the roots in salted water, throw into cold water and peel; slice, serve on lettuce leaves and pour over a French or mayonnaise dressing.

(See Salad Dressing.)

CHERVIL SALAD.

Clean the leaves thoroughly in cold water and shake to drain. Serve with French salad dressing. The leaves are aromatic and are used for seasoning dressings, salads, sauces and soups and also for garnishes.