Dr. Allinson's cookery book Part 6

STEWED MUSHROOMS.

1 lb. of mushrooms, 1 small English onion, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 1 dessertspoonful of Allinson cornflour, 1/2 pint of milk, 1/2 pint of water, pepper and salt to taste. Peel, wash, and dry the mushrooms--if big, quarter them--chop fine the onion, and fry both in the b.u.t.ter for 10 minutes. Add the water, milk, and seasoning, and let it all simmer for 20 minutes; thicken with the cornflour, boil up and serve with curried or plain boiled rice.

STUFFED SPANISH ONIONS WITH BROWN SAUCE.

4 good-sized Spanish onions, 1 breakfastcupful of Allinson breadcrumbs, an egg, 1 teaspoonful of powdered dry sage, or a dessertspoonful of minced fresh sage, pepper and salt to taste, and 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter. Boil the onions for 20 minutes and drain them. Cut a piece off the top of each onion and scoop out enough inside to leave at least 1 inch thick of the outer part. Chop up finely the part removed, mix it with the breadcrumbs, the sage, pepper, and salt. Beat up the egg, melt 1 oz. of the b.u.t.ter, and mix with the breadcrumbs, and stuff the onions with the mixture. Replace the slices cut off the tops of the onions, and tie them on with white cotton. Place the onions in a pie-dish or deep tin, put the rest of the b.u.t.ter on the top of the onions, cover them up, and bake them until quite tender.

Have ready the brown sauce, remove the threads of cotton, and pour the sauce over the cooked onions.

SWEET CORN FRITTERS.

1/2 tin of sweet corn, 2 eggs, 1/2 pint of milk, 1/2 oz. of Allinson fine wheatmeal, pepper, and salt, 1/2 saltspoonful of nutmeg, and some oil or b.u.t.ter. Make a batter of the meal, milk, and the eggs well beaten, adding the seasoning and the sweet corn. Have some oil (vege-b.u.t.ter) boiling in the frying-pan, drop spoonfuls of the batter into the boiling fat, and fry the fritters a golden brown. Serve with slices of lemon or tomato sauce.

TOMATO PIE.

1-1/2 lbs. of tomatoes, 1/2 lb. of onions, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 2 oz. of vermicelli, 2 hard-boiled eggs. For the crust, 8 oz. of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 3 oz. of b.u.t.ter. Cut up the potatoes and onions into dice, and parboil them in 1 pint of water, adding the b.u.t.ter and seasoning.

Turn them into a pie-dish, add the tomatoes and eggs cut in slices, mix all the ingredients, and add the vermicelli broken up small. Make a paste with the meal, b.u.t.ter, and a little cold water, cover the pie with the crust, and bake for 1 hour.

TOMATO TORTILLA.

1 lb. of tomatoes, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 4 eggs, pepper and salt to taste.

Scald, skin, and slice the tomatoes. Melt the b.u.t.ter in a frying-pan.

Add it to the tomatoes with seasoning, and stew in the b.u.t.ter until quite tender and until a good deal of the liquid has steamed away.

Whip the eggs and stir them into the cooked tomatoes; keep stirring until the mixture has thickened. Serve on hot b.u.t.tered toast. This mixture can also be used cold for sandwiches.

TOMATOES a LA PARMESAN.

4 large tomatoes, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 3 oz. of Parmesan cheese, 3/4 pint of milk, 1 dessertspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, pepper and salt to taste. Bake the tomatoes in a tin with the b.u.t.ter and a dredging of pepper and salt. Make a sauce with the milk, meal, and cheese, seasoning it with a little cayenne pepper if handy. When the tomatoes are baked, place them on hot b.u.t.tered toast, pour the sauce over, and serve hot.

TOMATOES AND ONION PIE.

Cut tomatoes and Spanish onions in slices, put into a pie-dish in alternate layers, add a little soaked tapioca, pepper and salt, and a little b.u.t.ter to taste. Put in sufficient water to make gravy, cover with wholemeal crust, bake 1-1/2 hours; eat with baked potatoes and bread.

TOMATOES AU GRATIN.

8 medium-sized tomatoes, 1 breakfastcupful of breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoonful each of finely chopped parsley, mint, and eschalot, 1 egg, pepper and salt, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter. Make a stuffing of the breadcrumbs, parsley, mint, and eschalots, adding the egg well beaten, and seasoning. Make a small opening in the tomato and take out the seeds with a teaspoon; fill the tomatoes with the stuffing, put them into a tin, place a bit of b.u.t.ter on each, pour 1/2 a teacupful of water in the tin, and bake the tomatoes 15 minutes.

VEGETABLE b.a.l.l.s.

These are an excellent addition to stews. Boil till soft, and mash up together equal quant.i.ties of potatoes, turnips, carrots, lentils, vegetable marrow, and haricot beans, and season nicely with pepper, salt, nutmeg, and mixed herbs. Bind with beaten eggs, dip in frying batter, and fry the b.a.l.l.s in vege-b.u.t.ter or oil till golden brown.

VEGETABLE MOULD.

2 breakfastcupfuls of mashed potatoes, 2 ditto of parboiled finely cut turnips, carrots, celery, onion, and green peas all mixed, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoonful of mixed herbs, pepper and salt to taste. Beat the eggs up and mix all the ingredients well together; b.u.t.ter a mould. Fill in the mixture, cover with the lid or tie a cloth over it, and steam for 2 hours. Turn out, and serve with brown sauce.

VEGETABLE PIE (1).

1/2 lb. each of tomatoes, turnips, carrots, potatoes, 1 tablespoonful of sago, 1 teaspoonful of mixed herbs, 3 hard-boiled eggs, 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, and pepper and salt to taste. Prepare the vegetables, scald and skin the tomatoes, cut them in pieces not bigger than a walnut, stew them in the b.u.t.ter and 1 pint of water until nearly tender, add the pepper and salt and the mixed herbs. When cooked, pour the vegetables into a pie-dish, sprinkle in the sago, add water to make gravy if necessary. Cut the hard-boiled eggs in quarters and place them on the top of the vegetables, cover with a crust, and bake until it is brown.

VEGETABLE PIE (2).

1/2 lb. each of carrots, turnips, onions, potatoes, 1 small cauliflower, 2 good sized tomatoes or a cupful of tinned ones, 2 hard-boiled eggs, 1 teaspoonful of mixed herbs, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 1 dessertspoonful of sago, pepper and salt to taste. Wash and prepare the vegetables, cut them into pieces the size of nuts; if fresh tomatoes are used, scald and skin them. Let all the vegetables stew gently with the b.u.t.ter and 1 pint of water until they are nearly tender; add the herbs, and seasoning; pour the whole into a pie-dish, sprinkling the sago between the vegetables; add water if more is required for the pie to have sufficient gravy; cut up the eggs in quarters, place the pieces on the top of the vegetables, and cover all with a crust. These vegetable pies can be varied according to the vegetables in season; cooked haricot or kidney beans, lentils, green peas, French beans may be used, and vermicelli or tapioca subst.i.tuted for the sago.

VEGETABLE STEW.

Fry 2 Spanish onions in 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, then add 3 turnips, 2 carrots, a little white celery, and 1 pint of water. Allow all to stew for 2 hours, then mix a tablespoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal with 1/2 pint of milk. Add to the stew, and serve.

YORKSHIRE PUDDING.

4 eggs, 1/2 lb. of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 1 pint of milk, pepper and salt to taste, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter. Thoroughly beat the eggs, make a batter of them with the flour and milk, and season it. Well b.u.t.ter a shallow tin, pour in the batter, and cut the rest of the b.u.t.ter in bits. Scatter them over the batter, and bake it 3/4 hour. Serve with vegetables, potatoes, and sauce. To use half each of Allinson breakfast oats and wheatmeal will be found very tasty.

NUTROAST.

1 lb. breadcrumbs, 6 oz. ground cob nuts, 2 oz. b.u.t.ter (oiled), 4 eggs; 1 small onion chopped very fine, 1 good pinch of mixed herbs, pepper and salt to taste, and enough milk just to smoothly moisten the mixture. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly, turn into a b.u.t.tered bread tin and steam 2-1/2-3 hours; turn out and serve with brown sauce.

MACARONI

Macaroni is one of the most nutritious farinaceous foods. It is made from Italian wheat, which contains more flesh-forming matter than butcher's meat. In the manufacture of macaroni some of the bran is removed from the flour, but the meal left is still very rich in flesh-forming matter. As the coa.r.s.er particles of the bran have been taken away, macaroni is slightly constipating, and must therefore always be eaten with green vegetables, onions, or fruit. Macaroni should always be boiled before being made into various dishes. It may be cooked in plain water, or in milk and water; a little salt may be added by those who use it, and care should be taken to use just enough water to cook it in, so that when the macaroni is done, little or no fluid may be left, but if any does remain it should be saved for sauce, stock for soup, &c., as it contains valuable nutritive material. Macaroni takes from 20 minutes to 1 hour to cook, according to the kind used. That which is slightly yellow is to be preferred to the white, as the latter is usually poorer than the former in mineral salts and flesh-forming substances. From 2 to 4 oz. may be regarded as the amount to be allowed at a meal for grown-up persons.

A very simple nourishing and satisfying meal can be made from macaroni plainly boiled; it may be eaten with any kind of vegetables, or baked potatoes, or fried onions, and if desired, with grated cheese, onion, caper, or parsley sauce.

MACARONI (Italian).

1/2 lb. of spaghetti or vermicelli, 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 2 eggs, 3 oz. of grated cheese, 1 tablespoonful of finely chopped parsley, pepper and salt to taste. Boil the macaroni till tender in 2 pints of water, to which the b.u.t.ter has been added. When soft add seasoning, the cheese, and the parsley. Beat the eggs well in the dish in which the macaroni is to be served, pour over the mixture of macaroni and other ingredients, mix all well with the eggs, and serve. If neither spaghetti nor vermicelli are handy, use Naples macaroni.

MACARONI CHEESE.

1/2 lb. of macaroni, 8 oz. of grated cheese, some breadcrumbs, pepper and salt to taste, and 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter. Boil the macaroni in slightly salted water until soft. Then place a layer of it in a pie-dish, sprinkle some of the grated cheese over it, dust with pepper, and repeat the layers of macaroni and cheese, finishing with a sprinkling of cheese, and the breadcrumbs. Cut the b.u.t.ter in pieces, and place them here and there on the top. Bake it in a moderately hot oven until brown. Eat with vegetables and tomato sauce. For those who have a weak digestion plain boiled macaroni with grated cheese added at table is better and lighter. Macaroni requires from 25 minutes to 1/2 an hour cooking. The Genoa macaroni takes longer, the thin spaghetti kind is done in from 15 to 20 minutes, and vermicelli and Italian paste are done in a few minutes. Macaroni should be thrown into boiling water and be kept boiling, as the pipes or pieces otherwise stick together.

The Italian paste is mostly used as an addition in clear soup.