You can put these oysters into small dishes, just as you did the creamed oysters, or into large scallop-sh.e.l.ls, and bake them only ten or fifteen minutes. In serving, put a small sprig of parsley into each.
Pigs in Blankets
These were great fun to make, and Margaret often begged to get them ready for company.
15 large oysters.
15 very thin slices of bacon.
Sprinkle each oyster with a very little salt and pepper. Trim the rind from the bacon and wrap each oyster in one slice, pinning this ""blanket"" tightly on the back with a tiny j.a.panese wooden toothpick.
Have ready a hot frying-pan, and lay in five oysters, and cook till the bacon is brown and the edges of the oysters curl, turning each over once. Put these on a hot plate in the oven with the door open, and cook five more, and so on. Put them on a long, narrow platter, with slices of lemon and sprigs of parsley around. Or you can put each one on a strip of toast which you have dipped in the gravy in the pan; this is the better way. This dish must be eaten very hot, or it will not be good.
Creamed Fish
2 cups of cold fish.
1 cup of white sauce.
Pick any cold fish left from dinner into even bits, taking out all the bones and skin, and mix with the hot white sauce. Stir until smooth, and add a small half-teaspoonful of chopped parsley.
You can put this in a b.u.t.tered baking-dish and cover the top with crumbs and bits of b.u.t.ter, and brown in the oven, or you can put it in small dishes and brown also, or you can serve it just as is, in little dishes.
Creamed Lobster
1 lobster, or the meat from 1 can.
1 large cup of white or cream sauce.
Take the lobster out of the sh.e.l.l and clean it; Bridget will have to show you how the first time. Or, if you are using canned lobster, pour away all the juice and pick out the bits of sh.e.l.l, and find the black string which is apt to be there, and throw it away.
Cut the meat in pieces as large as the end of your finger, and heat it in the sauce till it steams. Put in a small half-teaspoonful of salt, a pinch of cayenne, and a squeeze of lemon. Do not put this in a large dish, but in small ones, b.u.t.tered well, and serve at once. Stand a little claw up in each dish.
Creamed Salmon
1 can salmon.
1 cup of white sauce.
Prepare this dish exactly as you did the plain creamed white fish.
Take it out of the can, remove all the juice, bones, and fat, and put in the white sauce, and cook a moment till smooth. Add a small half-teaspoonful of salt, a little pepper, and a squeeze of lemon, and put in a baking-dish and brown, or serve as it is, in small dishes.
Scalloped Lobster or Salmon
1 can of fish, or 1 pint.
1 large cup of cracker or bread crumbs.
1 large cup of white sauce.
Prepare this dish almost as you did the scalloped oysters. Take out all the bones and skin and juice from the fish; b.u.t.ter a baking-dish, put in a layer of fish, then salt and pepper, then a layer of crumbs and b.u.t.ter, and a layer of white sauce, then fish, seasoning, crumbs and b.u.t.ter again, and have the crumbs on top. Dot over with b.u.t.ter and brown in the oven, or serve in small dishes.
Crab Meat in Sh.e.l.ls
You can buy very nice, fresh crab meat in tins, and the sh.e.l.ls also.
A very delicious dish is made by mixing a cup of rich cream sauce with the crab meat, seasoning it well with salt and pepper and putting in the crab-sh.e.l.ls; cover with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and brown in the oven. This is a nice thing to have for a company luncheon.
Creamed Chicken or Turkey
2 cups of cold chicken.
1 large cup of white or creamed sauce.
1/2 teaspoonful of chopped parsley.
Salt and pepper.
Pick the chicken or turkey off the bones and cut into small bits before you measure it. Heat it in the sauce till very hot, but do not let it boil, and add the seasoning,--about half a teaspoonful of salt, and a tiny bit of cayenne, or as much celery-salt in the place of the common kind. Put in a large b.u.t.tered dish and serve, or in small dishes, either with crumbs on top or not.
A nice addition to this dish is half a green pepper, the seeds taken out, chopped very fine indeed, and mixed with the white meat; the contrast of colors is pretty and the taste improved.
Scalloped Eggs
6 hard-boiled eggs.
1 cup cream or white sauce.
1 cup fine bread-crumbs.
Salt and pepper.
Cook the eggs twenty minutes, and while they are cooking make the white sauce, and b.u.t.ter one large or six small dishes. Peel the eggs and cut them into bits as large as the end of your finger.
Put a layer of bread-crumbs on the bottom of the dish, then a layer of egg, then a sprinkling of salt, pepper, and bits of b.u.t.ter, then a layer of white sauce. Then more crumbs, egg, and seasoning, till the dish is full, with crumbs on top. Put bits of b.u.t.ter over all and brown in the oven.
Eggs in Double Cream
This is a rule Margaret"s Pretty Aunt got in Paris, and it is a very nice one. Have half a pint of very thick cream--the kind you use to whip; the French call this double cream. Cook six eggs hard and cut them into bits. b.u.t.ter a baking-dish, or small dishes, and put in a layer of egg, then a layer of cream, then a sprinkling of salt, and one of paprika, which is sweet red pepper. Put one thin layer of fine, sifted crumbs on top with b.u.t.ter, and brown in the oven. Or you can put the eggs and cream together and heat them, and serve on thin pieces of b.u.t.tered toast, with one extra egg put through the ricer over the whole.
Creamed Eggs in Toast
Make small pieces of nice toast and dip each one in white sauce.
Boil hard four eggs, and cut in even slices and cover the toast, and then spread the rest of the white sauce over all in a thin layer.
Devilled Eggs
6 eggs.
2 saltspoonfuls of dry mustard.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
1 saltspoonful of cayenne pepper.
1 teaspoonful of olive-oil or cream.
1 large tablespoonful of chopped ham.