The Belgian Cookbook Part 5

CAULIFLOWER a LA REINE ELIZABETH

Simmer the cauliflowers till tender. Prepare a mince of veal and pork, and season it well with a little spice. b.u.t.ter a mold and fill it with alternate layers of mince and of cauliflower broken in small pieces.

Fill a large saucepan three-quarters full of boiling water and place the mold in this; let it cook for one hour in this way over the fire; turn it out and pour a spinach sauce over it.

[_Mme. van Praet_.]

MUSHROOMS a LA SPINETTE

Make some puff pastry cases, wash and chop the mushrooms and toss them in b.u.t.ter to which you have added a slice of lemon. Make a bechamel sauce with cream, or, failing that, with thick tinned cream, and mix with the mushrooms. Heat the cases for a few minutes in the oven and fill them with the hot mixture.

[_Mme. Spinette_.]

DRESSED CAULIFLOWER

Simmer a cauliflower till it is tender. Pour out the liquor, and add to it a bit of b.u.t.ter, the size of a nut, rolled in flour, a pinch of nutmeg, a tablespoonful of Gruyere cheese and a little milk.

Bind the sauce with a little feculina flour. At the moment of serving, pour the sauce over the cauliflower, which you have placed upright on a dish. The nutmeg and the cheese are indispensable to this dish.

[_V. Verachtert_.]

BRUSSELS SPROUTS

(The best way to cook them)

Having cleaned and trimmed your sprouts, let them simmer in salted water, to which you have also added a little soda to preserve the color.

Or, if you do not like to add soda, keep the pan firmly covered by the lid. When tender, take them out and let them drain, place them in another pan with a good lump of b.u.t.ter or fat; stir, so as to let the b.u.t.ter melt at once, and sprinkle in pepper and a tiny pinch of nutmeg.

[_Mdlle. Germaine Verstraete_.]

RAGOUT OF MUTTON

Fry the mutton very well. Then place in another pan sufficient water to cover your mutton, adding pepper, salt, a little nutmeg, a celery, and a few white turnips cut in pieces. When they are well cooked, add the meat and let all simmer for two hours.

[_V. Verachtert_.]

STEWED SHOULDER OF MUTTON

Put in a pan a large lump of b.u.t.ter or clarified fat, and place the shoulder in it. Add two big onions sliced, and a very large carrot also sliced, thyme, bay-leaf, two cloves, pepper and salt, and, if you like it, two garlic k.n.o.bs. Let the shoulder simmer in this by the side of the fire for three hours. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve, and then add to it either a gla.s.s of good red wine or a little made mustard with a teaspoonful of brown sugar.

[_Mme. Segers_.]

SHOULDER OF MUTTON

Put a handful of dried white haricots to soak over-night and simmer them the following day for two hours with some salt. Rub your shoulder of mutton with a little bit of garlic before putting it in the oven to cook, and when it is done, serve with the haricots round it, to which have been added a pat or two of b.u.t.ter.

[_V. Verachtert_.]

MUTTON COLLOPS

Take some slices of roast or boiled leg of mutton, egg them, and roll in a mixture of breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and a little flower. Fry till the slices are brown on each side; serve with chipped potatoes.

SHOULDER OF MUTTON DRESSED LIKE KID

My readers have probably tasted a shoulder of kid dressed as mutton. Let them therefore try the converse of the dish, and, if they really take trouble with it, they will have a dinner of the most delicious. Put into a deep dish that will hold your shoulder of mutton the following mixture:

A cupful each of oil, vinegar, white wine, red wine, an onion stuffed with cloves, a bunch of herbs which must be fresh ones--thyme, parsley, marjoram, sage, a tiny bit of mint, a few bay-leaves--two medium carrots cut in slices. Put the shoulder of mutton in this mixture and keep it there for four days, turning it every now and then and pouring the mixture on it. On the fifth day take it out, and, if you care to take the trouble, you will improve it by larding the meat here and there. Put it to roast in front of a good fire, with your liquor, which serves to baste it with, in a pan beneath. If you cannot arrange to hang the mutton by a string to turn like a roasting jack, then bake it, and continually baste it. A small shoulder is most successful. For one of four pounds bake for fifty minutes.

ROAST RUMP OF BEEF, BORDELAISE SAUCE

Take three pounds of the rump of beef, put it into a pretty deep pan upon one onion, one sliced carrot, some thyme, and a bay-leaf, three table-spoonfuls of dripping, salt, and pepper. Put it on the top of the fire, and when it comes fully to the boil, put it to the side, and allow it to simmer nicely for an hour and a half. Dress it on a dish and serve the sauce separately.

ROASTED FILLET OF BEEF

About three pounds of fillet of beef roasted in a good hot oven for forty minutes; let it be rather underdone. Take three turnips, four good-sized carrots, cut them into jardiniere slices. Cook them separately in salted water, drain them and add salt, pepper, a tiny pinch of sugar and one dessert-spoonful of b.u.t.ter. Dress the fillet on a long dish with the garniture of carrots and turnips, and some artichoke-bottoms cooked in water and finished with b.u.t.ter, also add some potatoes _chateau_. Be sure the dish is very hot. Put a little water, or, for choice, clear stock, upon the roasting-dish and pour it over the fillet.