1 slice of onion.
1 teaspoonful of chopped parsley.
1 teaspoonful salt.
3 shakes of pepper.
Cut the green pepper in half and take out all the seeds; mix with the tomato, and cook all together with the seasoning for five minutes.
Make an omelette by the last rule while the tomato is cooking, and when it is done, just before you fold it over, put in the tomato.
Omelette with Mushrooms
Take a can of mushrooms and slice half of them into thin pieces.
Make a cup of very rich white sauce, using cream instead of milk, and cook the mushrooms in it for one minute. Make the omelette as before, and spread with the sauce when you turn it over.
Omelette with Mushrooms and Olives
This was a very delicious dish, and Margaret only made it for company. She prepared the mushrooms just as in the rule above, and added twelve olives, cut into small pieces, and spread the omelette with the whole when she turned it.
Eggs Baked in Little Dishes
Margaret"s mother had some pretty little dishes with handles, brown on the outside and white inside. These Margaret b.u.t.tered, and put one egg in each, sprinkling with salt, pepper, and b.u.t.ter, with a little parsley. She put the dishes in the oven till the eggs were firm, and served them in the small dishes, one on each plate.
Eggs with Cheese
6 eggs.
2 heaping tablespoonfuls Parmesan cheese.
1/2 teaspoonful salt.
Pinch of red pepper.
Beat the eggs without separating till light and foamy, and then add the cheese, salt, and pepper. Put a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter in the frying-pan, and when it is hot put in the eggs, and stir till smooth and firm. Serve on small pieces of b.u.t.tered toast.
Parmesan cheese is very nice to use in cooking; it comes in bottles, all ready grated to use.
Eggs with Bacon
Take some bacon and put in a hot frying-pan, and cook till it crisps.
Then lift it out on a hot dish and put in the oven. Break six eggs in separate cups, and slide them carefully into the fat left in the pan, and let them cook till they are rather firm and the bottom is brown. Then take a cake-turner and take them out carefully, and put in the middle of the dish, and arrange the bacon all around, with parsley on the edge.
Ham and Eggs, Moulded
Take small, deep tins, such as are used for timbales, and b.u.t.ter them. Make one cup of white sauce; take a cup of cold boiled ham which has been put through the meat-chopper, and mix with a tablespoonful of white sauce and one egg, slightly beaten. Press this like a lining into the tins, and then gently drop a raw egg in the centre of each. Stand them in a pan of boiling water in the oven till the eggs are firm,--about ten minutes,--and turn out on a round platter. Put around them the rest of the white sauce.
You can stand the little moulds on circles of toast if you wish.
This rule was given Margaret by her Pretty Aunt, who got it at cooking-school; it sounded harder than it really was, and after trying it once Margaret often used it.
FISH
One day some small, cunning little fish came home from market, and Margaret felt sure they must be meant for her to cook. They were called smelts, and, on looking, she found a rule for cooking them, just as she had expected.
Fried Smelts
Put a deep kettle on the fire, with two cups of lard in it, to get it very hot. Wipe each smelt inside and out with a clean wet cloth, and then with a dry one. Have a saucer of flour mixed with a teaspoonful of salt, and another saucer of milk. Put the tail of each smelt through its gills--that is, the opening near its mouth. Then roll the smelts first in milk and then in flour, and shake off any lumps. Throw a bit of bread into the fat in the kettle, and see if it turns brown quickly; it does if the fat is hot enough, but if not you must wait. Put four smelts in the wire basket, and stand it in the fat, so that the fish are entirely covered, for only half a minute, or till you can count thirty.
As you take them out of the kettle, lay them on heavy brown paper on a pan in the oven, to drain and keep hot, and leave the door open till all are done. Lay a folded napkin on a long, narrow platter, and arrange the fishes in two rows, with slices of lemon and parsley on the sides.
Fish-b.a.l.l.s
One morning there was quite a good deal of cold mashed potato in the ice-box, so Margaret decided to have fish-b.a.l.l.s for breakfast. Her rule said: Take a box of prepared codfish and put it in a colander and pour a quart of boiling water through it, stirring it as you do so. Let it drain while you heat two cups of mashed potato in a double boiler, with half a cup of hot milk, beating and stirring till it is smooth. Squeeze the water from the codfish and mix with the potato. Beat one egg without separating it, and put this in, too, with a very little pepper, and beat it all well. Turn it out on a floured board, and make into small b.a.l.l.s, rolling each one in flour as it is done, and brushing off most of the flour afterward. Have ready a kettle of hot lard, just as for smelts, and drop in three or four of the b.a.l.l.s at one time, and cook till light brown. Lift them out on a paper in the oven, and let them keep hot while you cook the rest.
Serve with parsley on a hot platter.
Creamed Codfish
Pour boiling water over a package of prepared codfish in the colander and drain it. Heat a frying-pan, and, while you are waiting, beat the yolk of an egg. Squeeze the water from the fish. Put one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter in a hot pan, and when it bubbles put in two tablespoonfuls of flour, and stir and rub till all is smooth. Pour in slowly a pint of hot milk, and mix well, rubbing in the flour and b.u.t.ter till there is not a single lump.
Then stir in the fish with a little pepper, and when it boils put in the egg. Stir it all up once, and it is done. Put in a hot covered dish, or on slices of b.u.t.tered toast.
Salt Mackerel
This was a dish Margaret"s grandmother liked so much that they had it every little while, even though it was old-fashioned.
Put the mackerel into a large pan of cold water with the skin up, and soak it all one afternoon and night, changing the water four times. In the morning put it in a pan on the fire with enough water to cover it, and drop in a slice of onion, minced fine, a teaspoonful of vinegar, and a sprig of parsley. Simmer it twenty minutes,--that is, let it just bubble slowly,--and while it is cooking make a cup of white sauce as before: one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, melted, one tablespoonful of flour, one cup of hot milk, a little salt. Cook till smooth. Take up the fish and pour off all the water; place it on a hot platter and pour the sauce over it.
MEATS
When it came to cooking meat for breakfast, Margaret thought she had better take first what looked easiest, so she chose--
Corned Beef Hash
1 pint of chopped corned beef.
1 pint of cold boiled potatoes.
1 cup of clear soup, or one cup of cold water.
1 tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter.
1 teaspoonful of finely minced onion.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
3 shakes of pepper.
Mix all together. Have a hot frying-pan, and in it put a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter or nice fat, and when it bubbles shake it all around the pan. Put in the hash and cook it till dry, stirring it often and sc.r.a.ping it from the bottom of the pan. When none of the soup or water runs out when you lift a spoonful, and when it seems steaming hot, you can send it to the table in a hot dish, with parsley around it. Or you can let it cook without stirring till there is a nice brown crust on the bottom, when you can double it over as you would an omelette. Or you can make a pyramid of the hash in the middle of a round platter, and put poached eggs in a circle around it.