Convent Soup.
- 3 potatoes.
- 2 onions.
- 2 carrots.
- 2 turnips.
- 1 pint of green peas.
- 1 cup of string-beans, cut into short lengths.
- ¼ of a small cabbage.
- 6 tomatoes, peeled and sliced.
- Bunch of sweet herbs.
- ½ cup of good dripping.
- 2 tablespoonfuls of flour.
- 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, rolled in flour.
- 2 qts. and 1 pint of boiling water.
- Pepper and salt.
Parboil, and leave to cool, turnips, carrots, and potatoes, sliced; also the chopped cabbage. Slice the onions, and fry in the hot dripping for five minutes. Then stir in the flour, and simmer until well colored. Turn into a soup-kettle the contents of the frying-pan, rinsing out the latter with two cups of boiling water, and pour this, also, into the soup-pot. When it bubbles, add all the vegetables. Stir a few minutes, and put in another pint of hot water. Cover, and simmer until all are heated through and begin to boil, when put in the rest of the water. Cook slowly for two hours, or until all are soft and breaking. Strain, and pulp the vegetables through the colander. Season the purée with salt, pepper, and sweet herbs, chopped; stir in your floured butter; simmer five minutes, stirring well, and serve.
Boiled Salmon.
The middle slice of salmon is the best. Sew up neatly in a mosquito-net bag, and boil a quarter of an hour to the pound in hot, salted water. When done, unwrap with care, and lay upon a hot dish, taking care not to break it. Have ready a large cupful of drawn butter, very rich, in which has been stirred a tablespoonful of minced parsley and the juice of a lemon. Pour half upon the salmon, and serve the rest in a boat. Garnish with parsley and sliced eggs.
Fried Chicken—Whole.
Truss a young, tender chicken as for roasting, but do not stuff it. Put into a steamer, or cover closely in a colander, over a pot of fast-boiling water for half an hour. Have ready some very nice dripping, or a mixture of one-third butter, two-thirds lard, in a deep frying or saucepan. Flour the chicken all over, and put in when the fat is hot. When the lower side is of a fine brown, turn the fowl. When both are cooked, take it out, lay a few slices of onion in the bottom of a tin pail, and put in the chicken. Fit on the top, and set in a pot of water, which must be kept at a slow boil, half an hour. Rub the chicken well with melted butter, in which have been stirred pepper, salt, and chopped parsley, and serve.
Stewed Onions.
See Tuesday of Third Week in this month.
Green Peas.
See Sunday of this week.
Potatoes à la Duchesse.
Cut cold mashed potatoes, round or square, with a cake-cutter; flour well, and bake in the oven, buttering as they begin to brown. If the potatoes are too pliable to cut out well, mould by pressing firmly into your cutter, which should first be wet with cold water. Serve with the salmon.
Cherry Pie.
Line a pie-dish with cold crust; fill with whole cherries—tart and sweet, in equal proportions; sugar plentifully; put on a top crust, and bake in a tolerably brisk oven. Eat cold, with powdered sugar sifted over the top.