QUENELLES À LA REINE
Two ounces of crumb from a milk loaf, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, 1 oz. peeled onion, 1 large teaspoonful chopped parsley, 4 ozs. pine kernels, 1¹⁄₂ gills milk, yolk of 1 raw egg, 1 pint thick white sauce, seasoning, sippets.
Method.—Wash the pine kernels two or three times in boiling water and pass them twice through a nut-mill or fine mincer; boil the onion for six minutes, drain it and mince it; melt one ounce of butter in a small omelet pan, put in the onion and nuts and fry very gently until the onion is a golden colour. While this is being done, cook the breadcrumb in the milk with the remaining half ounce of butter; as soon as it is reduced to a paste, take it from the stove, beat it well, and add the chopped parsley, then pound the onion and nuts in a mortar for a few minutes; add the bread paste, and as soon as the mixture is very light and white in appearance, put in the yolk; season with salt, pepper, a little mace, and a squeeze of lemon juice, and complete the pounding. Pass the mixture through a fine wire sieve into a basin, then turn it on to a floured board, roll it into the shape of a long sausage, and divide it into seven equal portions; butter seven little quenelle moulds and put in the mixture, smooth the top with a knife which has been dipped into hot water and poach the quenelles in the white sauce, which should be boiling, for fifteen minutes. Arrange some carefully-prepared mashed potato on a hot silver dish, so that it forms an even surround with rather a deep hollow in the middle. Unmould the quenelles, put them in the middle of the potato, and pour the sauce over them, and garnish with little kite-shaped sippets of fried bread.