The Myrtle Reed Cook Book Part 71

Slice boiled salsify and put in layers in a b.u.t.tered baking-dish, sprinkling each layer with crumbs and seasoning with salt, pepper, and b.u.t.ter. Have crumbs on top. Fill the dish with milk and bake until brown.

ESCALLOPED SALSIFY

Mash boiled salsify through a sieve, season with salt, cayenne, b.u.t.ter, and celery salt, and moisten with milk. Put into a b.u.t.tered baking-dish, cover with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and bake in a pan of hot water until brown; or, use sliced boiled salsify alternately with Cream or Drawn-b.u.t.ter Sauce and seasoned and b.u.t.tered crumbs. Have sauce on top. Cover with crumbs, wet with cream, and bake brown.

FRIED SALSIFY

Prepare according to directions given for Boiled Salsify, drain, marinate in French Dressing, and saute in very hot fat. Serve with Maitre d'Hotel Sauce if desired; or, boil, drain, dip in egg and crumbs or seasoned flour, and fry in deep fat.

SPAGHETTI a L'AMeRICAINE

Cook spaghetti until tender, drain, and add a can of tomato paste.

Simmer for twenty minutes, season to taste, add two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, and serve with grated cheese.

SPAGHETTI a LA TOMASO

Fry six pork chops brown with three sliced onions, adding a little b.u.t.ter or oil if the chops are not fat enough to fry. Pour over two cans of tomatoes and add three whole cloves of garlic peeled and sliced, and salt and paprika to season. A seeded and chopped green pepper is an improvement. Simmer slowly until the meat is in rags, adding boiling water if required. When the sauce is thick and dark, rub through a coa.r.s.e sieve, pressing through as much of the meat pulp as possible. If it is not thick enough, simmer until it reaches the consistency of thick meat gravy. This sauce will keep for a day or two. Have ready a kettle of salted water at a galloping boil. Put in a handful of imported spaghetti without breaking, coiling it into the kettle as it softens. Cook for twenty minutes, or more if necessary, stirring to keep from burning. Drain in a colander, rinse thoroughly with fresh boiling water, and spread on a platter. Add olive-oil to moisten if desired. Mix with part of the sauce and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Pa.s.s sauce and cheese with it. Fried green peppers or fresh mushrooms may be mixed with the spaghetti, or a handful of soaked dried Italian mushrooms may be cooked with the sauce.

ESCALLOPED SPAGHETTI WITH OYSTERS

Put into a b.u.t.tered baking-dish in layers drained oysters and boiled spaghetti cut into small pieces. Season each layer with salt, pepper, and dots of b.u.t.ter. Pour over enough Cream Sauce or milk to moisten, cover with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and bake until brown.

GREEK SPAGHETTI

Chop a small onion fine, fry in b.u.t.ter, and mix with a pound and a half of lean beef chopped fine and fried in b.u.t.ter, highly seasoned with black and white pepper. Fill a baking-dish with alternate layers of the meat and boiled spaghetti, seasoning each layer with grated Parmesan cheese. Bake until brown.

BOILED SPINACH

Cook a peck of well-washed spinach, uncovered, with a cupful of boiling water for ten minutes. Drain, pressing out all the liquid.

Chop fine, rub through a sieve, season with salt, pepper, b.u.t.ter and sugar, and moisten with stock, gravy, Brown Sauce, or Cream Sauce.

Garnish with hard-boiled eggs or croutons. It may be reheated without chopping and seasoned with salt, pepper, b.u.t.ter, and vinegar.

b.u.t.tERED SPINACH

Cook two quarts of spinach according to directions previously given.

Drain, and serve with melted b.u.t.ter; or, chop fine, press out all the liquid, reheat in Cream Sauce, season with a little grated nutmeg and at the last add two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter.

BOILED SQUASH

Peel, remove the seeds, boil until tender, drain, and serve with melted b.u.t.ter or White Sauce; or, peel, seed, and quarter a squash, and cook in stock to cover, seasoning with salt, pepper, b.u.t.ter, and a little sugar. Or cook it in milk, seasoning with salt, pepper, and powdered mace.

BOILED SUMMER SQUASH

Cut into small pieces and cook for an hour in boiling water, then drain and mash, seasoning with salt, pepper, and b.u.t.ter. Moisten with a little cream, and serve.

CREAMED SQUASH

Steam or boil small pieces of squash, drain, and reheat in Cream Sauce.

FRIED SUMMER SQUASH

Cut the squash in slices, dredge with seasoned flour, and saute in b.u.t.ter or dip in crumbs, then in egg and crumbs, and fry in deep fat.

It may be parboiled for five minutes before frying; or, prepare according to directions given for Fried Eggplant.

ROASTED SQUASH

Peel and cut into long strips. Cook in the pan with a roast, basting with the drippings.

BROILED TOMATOES

Peel and slice large tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and broil, basting with oil; or, dip in seasoned crumbs or corn-meal before broiling. Sprinkle with minced parsley if desired.

BROILED TOMATOES WITH SAUCE

Season Cream Sauce with a little mace, and salt and pepper to taste.

When smooth and thick add a well-beaten egg and pour it over broiled tomatoes; or, serve broiled tomatoes with highly seasoned melted b.u.t.ter mixed with lemon-juice.

BAKED TOMATOES

Peel the tomatoes and put into a baking-dish. Sprinkle thickly with sugar and bake until the sugar has become a thick syrup; or, stuff tomato sh.e.l.ls with seasoned crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and sprinkle with sugar and bake.

BAKED TOMATOES a LA CReOLE

Peel and cut in two, three large tomatoes. Chop fine a green pepper and an onion and spread over the tomato. Sprinkle with salt, dot with b.u.t.ter, and bake, basting with the pan-gravy. Add half a cupful of cream or milk to the pan-gravy, thicken it with flour cooked in b.u.t.ter, and pour the sauce over the tomatoes. Serve on toast.

CREAMED BAKED TOMATOES

Make a Cream Sauce, seasoning with celery salt and onion-juice. Put a tablespoonful of the sauce into a ramekin, add a small peeled tomato, and cover with the sauce. Spread b.u.t.tered crumbs over the top and bake in a pan of boiling water for half an hour. Serve in the ramekins.