LUNCH DISHES

Bites
Turbot with Hollandaise Sauce (6)
Celery Fritters (19)
Italian Potatoes (31)
Duck Stew (32)
Meringue Apples (33)

DINNER DISHES

Quick Soup (10)
Fried Eggs Colbert Style (22)
Piedmontese Beef Kidneys (34)
Cauliflower Bread (21)
Chicken Bordelaise (35)
Mousseline Cake (36)

31. Italian Potatoes.
A kilo of boiled potatoes, 100 grams of butter, a little breadcrumbs soaked in milk, three eggs, tomato sauce.
Take a kilo of boiled potatoes, mash them, mix in 100 grams of butter, a little breadcrumbs soaked in milk, dilute with a little milk to make the mash manageable; then add three egg yolks, then the egg whites beaten until stiff; stir everything vigorously. Arrange in a dish, drizzle with a little melted butter and put in a moderate oven. You can, if you prefer, put the mash in a buttered mold. Then unmold when serving and present to the guests with a good tomato sauce.

32. Duck stew.
A duck, 250 grams of fresh pork, twelve small onions, a spoonful of flour, a glass of broth, a bottle of good red wine and a small glass of brandy, a few shallots, salt, pepper, spices, thyme, bay leaf, parsley, 250 grams of mushrooms.
Put a few drops of vinegar in a bowl, bleed the duck and let the blood fall into the bowl, the vinegar will prevent it from curdling.
Cut up the duck, brown 250 grams of fresh pork with the limbs of the poultry; when all the pieces are nicely browned, remove them and brown a dozen small onions in this juice, remove them and put, in their place, a large spoonful of flour which you brown, moisten with a glass of broth, a bottle of good red wine and a small glass of brandy. When the sauce begins to boil, put back the duck, pork, onions, a few shallots, salt, pepper, spices, thyme, bay leaf, parsley. Let cook gently for two hours.
Strain the sauce or simply remove the onions, shallots and the bouquet, add 250 grams of mushrooms, simmer for three quarters of an hour. When ready to serve, skim the fat from the sauce, remove the pan from the heat. Crush the liver and mix it with the blood, pour into the sauce while stirring, heat for a few moments, without boiling, and serve.

33. Meringue apples.
A pound of Reinette apples, 450 grams of caster sugar, 300 grams of fresh butter, four egg whites.
Take a pound of Reinette apples; peel them, then cut them first into four quarters, then each of these into thin slices. Heat everything in 300 grams of caster sugar and as much fresh butter. Cover the pan and let cook over low heat. When cooking is finished, arrange the apple slices, without crushing them, in a deep ovenproof dish. Beat four egg whites until very stiff, and, when this snow begins to take, pour in, in a drizzle and still beating, 150 grams of caster sugar. Cover the apples with this snow, sprinkle with sugar and brown in a low oven for a few minutes.
If you do not have Reinettes, but white apples, you will puree them. In the puree, once cooked, you will put a bit of flour taken on the tip of a knife and a piece of butter, then you will meringue as above.

34. Piedmontese beef kidneys.
125 grams of rice, a little tomato puree, 50 to 60 grams of grated cheese, a beef kidney, fat, a pinch of rice flour, a spoonful of broth, salt, pepper, chopped parsley.
Cook rice in fat in which you will add a little tomato, do not let it cook too much and add 50 to 60 grams of grated cheese. In the meantime, prepare and cut a beef kidney into thin slices.
Heat a little fat in a frying pan and, when it is very hot, throw in the kidneys and sauté briskly over a full heat. Then sprinkle with a pinch of rice flour, moisten with a spoonful of stock, add a spoonful of tomato puree, season (salt, pepper and chopped parsley) and remove from the heat at the first boil. Arrange the rice in a crown on a round dish and serve the kidneys in the middle.

35. Chicken Bordelaise.
A chicken, oil, salt, pepper, twelve small onions, a small clove of garlic, a glass of broth, a spoonful of brandy and three spoonfuls of tomato puree, a bouquet garni, mushrooms, fried croutons.
Cut your chicken into pieces, put a layer of oil the thickness of a penny in a frying pan. Arrange your pieces of chicken in it in order, so that they are not on top of each other. Salt, pepper, add twelve small onions, a small clove of garlic. Cook over high heat for twenty-five minutes, taking care to turn the pieces so that they cook equally on both sides. Add a glass of broth, a spoonful of brandy and three spoonfuls of tomato puree, a bouquet garni. Cook for an hour. Ten minutes before perfect cooking, add mushrooms that you have previously blanched in boiling salted water. Remove the bouquet, skim off the fat and serve. You can decorate the chicken à la bordelaise with fried croutons.

36. Mousseline cake.
Six eggs, 340 grams of sugar, 150 grams of potato starch. You separate the whites from the yolks, you beat the whites until stiff. You first knead the egg yolks and the sugar (you use very fine powdered sugar, but not granulated sugar). You then make a kind of mayonnaise with the sugar and the eggs; when it is very smooth, you add the starch, but not all at once, in small pinches. You work the mixture well so that it is very smooth and you add the egg whites beaten until very stiff. You butter the mold, you fill it only halfway and you bake in a hot oven.

THE FIREPLACE CRICKET.

A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING

Salmon soufflé.
Take some canned salmon, crush it by adding breadcrumbs soaked in milk and then three egg yolks: mix everything well and add the egg whites beaten until stiff. Butter a plain mold, pour the mixture into it and cook in a bain-marie or in the oven. Unmold and pour surrounded by a tomato sauce.

Eggs in blocks.

Three eggs, half a liter of milk, 20 grams of sugar, a little butter. Beat the eggs well, gradually add the sweetened and flavored milk according to taste. Butter small molds, pour the mixture into them and cook in the oven for twenty minutes. You can put salt instead of sugar and serve as a small starter.