The Cook's Decameron Part 10

No. 32. Soup alla Maria Pia

Ingredients: White stock, eggs, b.u.t.ter, peas, white beans, carrot, onion, leeks, celery, cream croutons.

Soak one pound of white beans for twelve hours, then put them into a stock pot with a little salt, b.u.t.ter, and water, add a carrot, an onion, two leeks, and a stick of celery, and simmer until the vegetables are well cooked; then take out all the fresh vegetables, drain the beans and pa.s.s them through a sieve, but first dilute them with good stock. Put this puree into a stock pot with good white stock, and when it has boiled keep it hot in a bain-marie until you are about to serve; then mix the yolk of three eggs in a cup of cream, and add this to the soup.

Pour the soup into a warm tureen, add some boiled green peas, and serve with fried croutons handed separately.

No. 33. Zuppa d' Erbe (Lettuce Soup)

Ingredients: Stock, sorrel, endive, lettuce, chervil, celery, carrot, onion, French roll, Parmesan cheese.

Boil the following vegetables and herbs in very good stock for an hour: Two small bunches of sorrel, a bunch of endive, a lettuce, a small bunch of chervil, a stick of celery, a carrot and an onion, all well washed and cut up. Then put some slices of toasted French roll into a tureen and pour the above soup over them. Serve with grated Parmesan handed separately.

No. 34. Zuppa Regina di Riso (Queen's Soup)

Ingredients: Fowl stock, ground rice, milk, b.u.t.ter.

Put a tablespoonful of ground rice into a saucepan and gradually add half a pint of milk, boil it gently for twelve minutes in a bainmarie, but stir the whole time, so as to get it very smooth. Just before serving add an ounce of b.u.t.ter, pa.s.s it through a sieve, and mix it with good fowl stock.

Minestre

Minestra is a thick broth, very much like hotch-potch, only thicker. In Italy it is often served at the beginning of dinner instead of soup; it also makes an excellent lunch dish. Two or three tablespoonsful of No.

35 will be found a great improvement to any of these minestre.

No. 35. A Condiment for Seasoning Minestre, &c.

Ingredients: Onions, celery, carrots, b.u.t.ter, salt, stock, tomatoes, mushrooms.

Cut up an onion, a stick of celery, and a carrot; fry them in b.u.t.ter and salt; add a few bits of cooked ham and veal cut up, two mushrooms, and the pulp of a tomato. Cook for a quarter of an hour, and add a little stock occasionally to keep it moist. Pa.s.s through a sieve, and use for seasoning minestre, macaroni, rice, &c. It should be added when the dish is nearly cooked.

No. 36. Minestra alla Casalinga

Ingredients: Rice, b.u.t.ter, stock, vegetables.

All sorts of vegetables will serve for this dish. Blanch them in boiling salted water, then drain and fry them in b.u.t.ter. Add plenty of good stock, and put them on a slow fire. Boil four ounces of rice in stock, and when it is well done add the stock with the vegetables. Season with two or three spoonsful of No. 35, and serve with grated cheese handed separately.

No. 37. Minestra of Rice and Turnips

Ingredients: Rice, turnips, b.u.t.ter, gravy, tomatoes.

Cut three or four young turnips into slices and put them on a dish, strew a little salt over them, cover them with another dish, and let them stand for about two hours until the water has run out of them.

Then drain the slices, put them in a frying-pan and fry them slightly in b.u.t.ter. Add some good gravy and mashed-up tomatoes, and after having cooked this for a few minutes pour it into good boiling stock. Add three ounces of well-washed rice, and boil for half-an-hour.

Minestra loses its flavour if it is boiled too long. In Lombardy, however, rice, macaroni, &c., are rarely boiled enough for English tastes.

No. 38. Minestra alla Capucina

Ingredients: Rice, anchovies, b.u.t.ter, stock, and onions.

Scale an anchovy, pound it, and fry it in b.u.t.ter together with a small onion cut across, and four ounces of boiled rice. Add a little salt, and when the rice is a golden brown, take out the onion and gradually add some good stock until the dish is of the consistency of rice pudding.

No. 39. Minestra of Semolina

Ingredients: Stock, semolina, Parmesan.

Put as much stock as you require into a saucepan, and when it begins to boil add semolina very gradually, and stir to keep it from getting lumpy Cook it until the semolina is soft, and serve with grated Parmesan handed separately. To one quart of soup use three ounces of semolina.

No. 40. Minestrone alla Milanese

Ingredients: Rice or macaroni, ham, bacon, stock, all sorts of vegetables.

Minestrone is a favourite dish in Lombardy when vegetables are plentiful. Boil all sorts of vegetables in stock, and add bits of bacon, ham, onions braized in b.u.t.ter, chopped parsley, a clove of garlic with two cuts, and rice or macaroni. Put in those vegetables first which require most cooking, and do not make the broth too thin. Leave the garlic in for a quarter of an hour only.

No. 41. Minestra of Rice and Cabbage

Ingredients: Rice, cabbage, stock, ham, tomato sauce.