The Art of Living in Australia Part 24

* Total Cost--10d.

* Time--Half an Hour *

Remove all the fat from the fish stock and put it into a saucepan with six white peppercorns, an onion, one slice of turnip, a f.a.got of herbs, and some carrot. Boil this together for twenty minutes, then strain out the vegetables and pour back into the saucepan. Mix a tablespoonful of cornflour smoothly with the milk and stir it in; continue stirring till it boils. Skin and fillet the fish and cut it into dice, put these pieces of fish into the soup, and simmer for ten minutes. Just before serving add a few drops of lemon juice, and salt to taste. Pour into a tureen and sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top.

CABBAGE SOUP

* 1 Cabbage--3d.

* 2 oz. b.u.t.ter--1 1/2d.

* 1 pint Milk *

* Pepper, Salt, and Bread--3d.

* Total Cost--7 1/2 d.

* Time--One Hour *

Wash and strain the cabbage well, and cut it up into slices; throw it into boiling salt and water, and cook for five minutes; strain all the water off and put it into a saucepan with the salt, pepper, and two quarts of boiling water, and boil for one hour. Add the milk and let it boil up again, toast the slice of bread and cut it up into dice. Put it into a warm soup tureen and pour the boiling soup over it.

SYDNEY SOUP

* 1/2 doz. Tomatoes--2d.

* 1 Carrot *

* 2 Small Onions *

* 12 Peppercorns *

* 1 f.a.got Herbs *

* 1/2 teaspoon Salt *

* 2 quarts Stock--1 1/2d.

* 1 oz. b.u.t.ter--1d.

* 1 oz. Cornflour and 1/2 oz. Tapioca--1d.

* 1 cup of Green Peas--2d.

* Curry Powder *

* 1/2 teaspoonful of Sugar--1/2d.

* Total Cost--8d.

* Time--One Hour.

Put the b.u.t.ter into a saucepan, slice up the onions and carrot and fry them in it with the herbs, peppercorns, and a good pinch of curry powder. Mix the cornflour with a little stock and pour it over. Slice up the tomatoes and add them to the boiling stock; stir until it boils, and then simmer slowly for an hour. Rub through a sieve and return to the saucepan. Add the salt, sugar, and the tapioca; stir until this becomes transparent and thickens the soup. Put in a cupful of cold boiled peas; boil up and serve.

WHITE ONION SOUP

(SOUBISE BLANCHE.)

* 1 pint of Milk--2d.

* 1 oz. b.u.t.ter--1d.

* 4 Onions *

* Salt and Pepper *

* 1 pint White Bone Stock *

* Dry Crusts--1d.

* Total Cost--4d.

* Time--One Hour.

Peel and slice up the onions and put them into a saucepan with the b.u.t.ter; make them very hot, and then cover them down and leave them to cook by the side of the fire for an hour, but they must not get any colour. Break in some dry, hard pieces of bread; it should be crust only for this soup. Boil the milk and stock together, pour it over the onions and bread, and let it simmer very slowly, closely covered, for an hour; rub through a sieve, season with salt and pepper and a few drops of lemon juice. Boil up and serve with fried bread.

CRECY SOUP

* 6 Carrots--2d.

* 2 oz. b.u.t.ter--2d.

* 1 Onion *

* 1/2 teaspoonful Sugar *

* 1/2 teaspoonful Salt *

* 1 Turnip *

* 1 stalk of Celery *

* 3 pints of Boiling Water--1/2d.

* Total Cost--4 1/2 d.

* Time--Two Hours.

Slice up the carrots and vegetables, put them into boiling water, and cook for half-an-hour; strain them out of the water, which must be saved, and put them into a saucepan with the b.u.t.ter and a few sc.r.a.ps of bacon, if any are in the larder. Sprinkle over the sugar, make very hot, and cover down closely until the vegetables are very soft. Rub them through a sieve and pour on by degrees the water in which the vegetables were boiled; mix well together, return to a saucepan, and boil slowly for an hour. Stir in a small piece of b.u.t.ter and it is ready to serve. This soup should be perfectly smooth if properly made.

A hair sieve should be used for the vegetables, and the soup should be cooked very slowly.

LENTEN SOUP

* 6 Onions--1 1/2d.

* 2 oz. b.u.t.ter or Beef Dripping *