Celery from the market may be kept fresh for some time by wrapping the bunches in brown paper, sprinkling them with water, then wrapping in a damp cloth and putting in some cool, dark place.
_RECIPES_
CELERY SALAD.--Break the stems apart, cut off all green portions, and after washing well put in cold water for an hour or so before serving.
STEWED CELERY.--Cut the tender inner parts of celery heads into pieces about a finger long. The outer and more fibrous stalks may be saved to season soups. Put in a stewpan, and add sufficient water to cover; then cover the pan closely, and set it where it will just simmer for an hour, or until the celery is perfectly tender. When cooked, add a pint of rich milk, part cream if you have it, salt to taste, and when boiling, stir in a tablespoon of flour rubbed smooth in a little milk.
Boil up once and serve.
STEWED CELERY NO. 2.--Cut the white part of fine heads of celery into small pieces, blanch in boiling water, turn into a colander, and drain. Heat a cup and a half of milk to boiling in a stewpan; add the celery, and stew gently until tender. Remove the celery with a skimmer, and stir into the milk the beaten yolks of two eggs and one half cup of cream. Cook until thickened; pour over the celery, and serve.
CELERY WITH TOMATO SAUCE.--Prepare the celery as in the preceding recipe, and cook until tender in a small quant.i.ty of boiling water.
Drain in a colander, and for three cups of stewed celery prepare a sauce with a pint of strained stewed tomato, heated to boiling and thickened with a tablespoonful of flour rubbed smooth in a little cold water. If desired, add a half cup of thin cream. Turn over the celery, and serve hot.
CELERY AND POTATO HASH.--To three cups of cold boiled or baked potato, chopped rather fine, add one cup of cooked celery, minced. Put season. Heat to boiling, tossing and stirring so that the whole will be heated throughout, and serve hot.
ASPARAGUS.
DESCRIPTION.--The asparagus is a native of Europe, and in its wild state is a sea-coast plant. The young shoots form the edible portion.
The plant was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who not only used it as a table delicacy but considered it very useful in the treatment of internal diseases. Roman cooks provided themselves with a supply of the vegetable for winter use by cutting fine heads and drying them. When wanted, they were put into hot water and gently cooked.
The asparagus is remarkable as containing a crystalline alkaloid called _asparagin_, which is thought to possess diuretic properties.
PREPARATION AND COOKING.--Select fresh and tender asparagus. Those versed in its cultivation, a.s.sert that it should be cut at least three times a week, and barely to the ground. If it is necessary to keep the bunches for some time before cooking, stand them, tops uppermost, in water about one half inch deep, in the cellar or other cool place. Clean each stalk separately by swashing back and forth in a pan of cold water till perfectly free from sand, then break off all the tough portions, cut in equal lengths, tie in bunches of half a dozen or more with soft tape, drop into boiling water barely sufficient to cover, and simmer gently until perfectly tender.
If the asparagus is to be stewed, break: (not cut) into small pieces; when it will not snap off quickly, the stalk is too tough for use.
Asparagus must be taken from the water just as soon as tender, while yet firm in appearance. If boiled soft, it loses its flavor and is uninviting. It is a good plan when it is to be divided before cooking, if the stalks are not perfectly tender, to boil the hardest portions first. Asparagus cooked in bunches is well done, if, when held by the thick end in a horizontal position between the fingers, it only bends lightly and does not fall heavily down.
The time required for boiling asparagus depends upon its freshness and age. Fresh, tender asparagus cooks in a very few minutes, so quickly, indeed, that the Roman emperor Augustus, intimating that any affair must be concluded without delay, was accustomed to say, "Let that be done quicker than you can cook asparagus." Fifteen or twenty minutes will suffice if young and fresh; if old, from thirty to fifty minutes will be required.
_RECIPES._
ASPARAGUS AND PEAS.--Asparagus and green peas make a nice dish served together, and if of proportionate age, require the same length of time to cook. Wash the asparagus, sh.e.l.l and look over the peas, put together into boiling water, cook, and serve as directed for stewed asparagus.
ASPARAGUS POINTS.--Cut of enough heads in two-inch lengths to make three pints. Put into boiling water just sufficient to cover. When tender, drain off the water, add a half cup of cream, and salt if desired. Serve at once.
ASPARAGUS ON TOAST.--Cook the asparagus in bunches, and when tender, drain and place on slices of nicely browned toast moistened in the asparagus liquor. Pour over all a cream sauce prepared as directed below.
ASPARAGUS WITH CREAM SAUCE.--Thoroughly wash, tie in small bunches, and put into boiling water; boil till perfectly tender. Drain thoroughly, untie the bunches, place the stalks all the same way upon a hot plate, with a dressing prepared as follows: Let a pint of sweet cream (about six hours old is best) come to the boiling point, and stir into it salt to taste and a level tablespoonful of flour rubbed smooth with a little cold cream.
ASPARAGUS WITH EGG SAUCE.--Prepare and cook asparagus as directed above. When tender, drain thoroughly, and serve on a hot dish or on slices of nicely browned toast, with an egg sauce prepared in the following manner: Heat a half cup of rich milk to boiling, add salt, and turn into it very slowly the well-beaten yolk of an egg, stirring constantly at the same time. Let the whole just thicken, and remove from the fire at once.
STEWED ASPARAGUS.--Wash, break into inch pieces, simmer till tender in water just to cover, add sufficient rich milk, part cream if convenient, to make a gravy, thicken slightly with flour, a teaspoonful to a pint of milk; add salt if desired, boil up together once, and serve.
SEA-KALE.
DESCRIPTION.--This plant, a native of Britain, and much esteemed as a vegetable in England and on the Continent, is also in its wild state a sea-coast plant. When properly cooked, it is nutritious and easy of digestion. In appearance and flavor it greatly resembles asparagus, and the suggestions for cooking and recipes given for that vegetable are applicable to sea-kale.
LETTUCE AND RADISH.
DESCRIPTION.--These two vegetables, although wholly different, the one being the leaf of a plant, the other the root, are both so commonly served as relishes that we will speak of them together. Both have long been known and used. Wild lettuce is said to be the bitter herb which the Hebrews ate with the Paschal lamb. The ancient Greek and Roman epicures valued lettuce highly, and bestowed great care upon its cultivation, in some instances watering the plants with sweet wine instead of water, in order to communicate to them a delicate perfume and flavor. The common garden lettuce of the present day is a hardy plant, which supplies an agreeable, digestible, and, when served with a wholesome dressing, un.o.bjectionable salad.
The common radish is supposed to be indigenous to China. Ancient writers on foods mention the radish as used by the early Greeks and Romans, who fancied that at the end of three years its seed would produce cabbages.
They had also the singular custom of making the radish the ignominious projectile with which in times of tumult the mob pursued persons whose political opinions had made them obnoxious. When quiet was restored, the disgraced vegetable was boiled and eaten with oil and vinegar. Common garden radishes are of different shapes and of various colors on the outside, there being black, violet, red, and white radishes. The inside portion of all, however, is white. They are sometimes cooked, but more commonly served raw. A dish of crisp, coral radishes adds beauty to the appearance of the table, but they are not possessed of a high nutritive value, being very similar to the turnip in composition, and unless very young, tender, and when eaten thoroughly masticated, are quite difficult of digestion.
_RECIPES._
LETTUCE.--Wash well, put into cold water, and set on ice or on the cellar bottom for an hour or more before using. Dry the leaves with a soft towel and use whole or tear into convenient pieces with a silver fork; never cut with a knife. Serve with a dressing prepared of equal quant.i.ties of lemon juice and sugar, diluted with a little ice water; or, with a dressing of cream and sugar, in the proportion of three or four tablespoonfuls of thin cream to a teaspoonful of sugar. The dressing may be prepared, and after the sugar is dissolved, a very little lemon juice (just enough to thicken the cream slightly, but not sufficient to curdle it) may be added if desired.
RADISHES.--Wash thoroughly young and tender radishes, and arrange in a gla.s.s dish with the taper ends meeting. Scatter bits of cracked ice among them. An inch of the stem, if left on, serve as a convenience in handling.
CYMLING, SUMMER SQUASH, OR VEGETABLE MARROW.
DESCRIPTION.--The vegetable marrow (sometimes called cymling) is thought to be a variety of the common gourd, from which also the pumpkin and winter squash appear to have been derived. It is easily digested, but on account of the abundance of water in its composition, its nutritive value is very low.
PREPARATION AND COOKING.--When very young, most varieties need no preparation for cooking, aside from washing thoroughly. After cooking, the skin can be easily rubbed off and the seeds removed. If more mature, pare thinly, and if large, divide into halves or quarters and scoop out the seeds. Summer squashes are better steamed than boiled. If boiled, they should be cooked in so little water that it will be quite evaporated when they are tender. From twenty to sixty minutes will be required for cooking.
_RECIPES._
MASHED SQUASH.--Wash, peel, remove seeds, and steam until tender.
Place the squash in a clean cloth, mash thoroughly, squeeze until the squash is quite dry, or rub through a fine colander and afterward simmer until neatly dry; season with cream, and a little salt if desired, and heat again before serving. A teaspoonful of sugar may be added with the cream, if desired.
SQUASH WITH EGG SAUCE.--Prepare, steam till tender, cut into pieces, and serve with an egg sauce made the same as directed for asparagus, page 256.
STEWED SQUASH.--Prepare, cut into pieces, and stew until tender in a small quant.i.ty of boiling water; drain, pressing out all the water; serve on toast with cream or white sauce. Or, divide in quarters, remove the seeds, cook in a double boiler, in its own juices, which when done may be thickened with a little flour. Season with salt if desired, and serve hot.
WINTER SQUASHES.
The winter squash and pumpkin are allied in nature to the summer squash.
PREPARATION AND COOKING.--Select squashes of a firm texture, wash, break in pieces with a hatchet if hard-sh.e.l.l, or if the sh.e.l.l is soft, divide with a knife; remove all seeds, and boil, stew, steam, or bake, as preferred.
To boil or steam, from thirty minutes to one hour"s time will be needed; to bake, one to two hours.
_RECIPES._
BAKED SQUASH..--The hard-sh.e.l.l varieties are best for baking. Wash, divide, and lay, sh.e.l.ls downward, on the top grate of the oven, or place in a shallow baking dish with a little boiling water. Boil until tender, serve in the sh.e.l.l, or sc.r.a.pe out the soft part, mash and serve with two largo tablespoonful of cream to a pint of squash. If preferred, the skins may be removed before baking, and the squash served the same as sweet potato, for which it makes a good subst.i.tute.