The Cook's Decameron Part 23

Ingredients: Cuc.u.mber, cream, salt, Bechamel sauce, b.u.t.ter, Parmesan, cayenne pepper.

Cook a cuc.u.mber as in No. 165, braize it for five minutes, add to it a good rich Bechamel (No. 3), mixed with cream and grated Parmesan Spread this well over the cuc.u.mber, and put it into the oven for ten minutes keeping the rounds of cuc.u.mber separate, so as to arrange them in a circle on a very hot dish. Care should be taken not to cook the cuc.u.mber too long, or it will break in pieces and spoil the look of the dish.

No. 167. Carote al sughillo (Carrots)

Ingredients: Carrots, stock, b.u.t.ter, sausage, pepper.

Boil some young carrots in stock, slice them up, and put them in a stewpan with a sausage cut up; cook for quarter of an hour on a slow fire, then stir up the fire, and when the carrots and sausage are a good colour add a good Espagnole sauce (No. 1), and serve.

No. 168. Carote e piselli alla panna (Carrots and Peas)

Ingredients: Young carrots, peas, cream, salt.

Half cook equal quant.i.ties of peas and young carrots (the carrots should be cut in dice, and will require a little longer cooking), then put them together in a stewpan with three or four tablespoonsful of cream, and cook till quite tender. Serve hot.

No. 169. Verze alla Certosine (Cabbage)

Ingredients: Cabbage, b.u.t.ter, salt, leeks or shallots, sardines, cheese.

Any vegetable may be cooked in the following simple manner: Boil them well, then slightly fry a little bit of leek or shallot and a sardine in b.u.t.ter; drain the vegetables, put them in the b.u.t.ter, and cook gently so that they may absorb all the flavour, and at the last add a dust of grated cheese and a tiny pinch of spice.

No. 170. Lattughe al sugo (Lettuce)

Ingredients: Lettuce, Parmesan, bacon, stock, b.u.t.ter, croutons of bread, gravy.

Take off the outside leaves of a lettuce, blanch and drain them well.

Put on each leaf a mixture of grated Parmesan, salt, little bits of chopped bacon or ham, add a little good stock, cover over with b.u.t.tered paper, and cook in a hot oven for five minutes. Then drain off the stock and roll up each leaf with the bacon, &c., put them on croutons of fried bread and pour some good thick gravy over them.

No. 171 Lattughe farcite alla Genovese (Lettuce)

Ingredients: Lettuce, forcemeat of fowl or veal, ham, Espagnole sauce.

Prepare a lettuce as above, and spread on each leaf a spoonful of forcemeat of fowl or veal, add a little cooked ham chopped up, roll up the leaves, and cook as above. Drain them on a cloth, arrange them neatly on a dish, and pour some good Espagnole sauce (No. 1) over them.

No. 172. Funghi cappelle infarcite (Stuffed Mushrooms)

Ingredients: Mushrooms, bread, stock, garlic, parsley, salt, Parmesan, b.u.t.ter, eggs, cream.

Choose a dozen good fresh mushrooms, take off the stalks and put the tops into a saucepan with a little b.u.t.ter. See that they lie bottom upwards. Then cut up and mix together half the stalks of the mushrooms, a little bread crumb soaked in gravy, the merest sc.r.a.p of garlic and a little chopped parsley. Put this into a separate saucepan and add to it two eggs, half a gill of cream, salt, and two tablespoonsful of grated Parmesan. Mix well so as to get a smooth paste and fill in the cavities of the mushrooms with it. Then add a little more b.u.t.ter, strew some bread crumbs over each mushroom, and cook in the oven for ten to fifteen minutes.

No. 173. Verdure miste (Macedoine of Vegetables)

Ingredients: Cauliflower, carrots, celery, spinach, b.u.t.ter, cream, pepper, Parmesan.

Boil some carrots, cauliflower, spinach, and celery (all cut up) in water. Then put them in layers in a b.u.t.tered china mould, and between each layer add a little cream, pepper, and a little grated Parmesan and Cheddar. Fill the mould in this manner, and put it in the oven for half an hour, so that the vegetables may cook without adhering to the mould.

Turn out and serve.

No. 174. Patate alla crema (Potatoes in cream)

Ingredients: Potatoes, b.u.t.ter, Parmesan, white stock, cream, pepper, salt.

Boil two pounds of potatoes in salted water for a quarter of an hour, peel and cut them into slices about the size of a penny, then arrange them in layers in a very deep fireproof dish (with a lid), and on each layer pour a little melted b.u.t.ter, a little good white stock and a dust of grated Parmesan. Reduce a pint and a half of cream to half its quant.i.ty, add a little pepper, and pour it over the potatoes. Put the dish in the oven for twenty minutes. Serve as hot as possible.

No. 175. Cestelline di patate alla giardiniera (Potatoes)

Ingredients: Potatoes, white stock, salt, b.u.t.ter, peas, asparagus, sprouts, beans, &c.

Choose some big sound potatoes, cut them in half and scoop out a little of the centre so as to form a cavity, blanch them in salted water and cook for a quarter of an hour in good white stock and a little b.u.t.ter.

Then fill in the cavities with a macedoine of cooked vegetables and add a little cream to each.

No. 176. Patate al Pomidoro (Potatoes with Tomato Sauce)

Ingredients: Potatoes, b.u.t.ter, salt, tomatoes, lemon, stock.

Peel three or four raw potatoes, cut them in slices about the size of a five-s.h.i.+lling piece, then put them into a stewpan with two ounces of melted b.u.t.ter, and cook them gently until they are a good colour, add salt, drain off the b.u.t.ter, then glaze them by adding half a gla.s.s of good stock. Arrange them on a dish, pour some good tomato sauce over them, and add a little b.u.t.ter and a squeeze of lemon juice.