LA BONNE CUISINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 147, 23 June 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)

LA BONNE CUISINE.

SOUP EVERY DAY.

SOME SALAD SECRETS.

(By A FRENCH CHEF.)

Soup is a daily feature in every French household. "How can you afford to feed your family if you don't havd soup?" says tlio Frenchwoman. "It is nourishing, easy to make, and verj little trouble." I think this statement on the part of the Frenchwoman is cor rect. Soup is neither extravagant noj time wasting, nor is it monotonous. Use fresh meat bones, and boil in the stock pot for three hours. Let the water cool, and you will find fat on the top, which can be taken off and used for frying. Now add two sliced onions and carrots, and boil for another hour. Strain and keep the stock in a basin. When making soup, plan it to suit your menu. If you are having a lot of meat, have a vegetable soup; if you arc having a non-meat dish or fish, have a thick cream soup, or a thick vegetable soup. Clear soup is more of a stimulant than thick soup, which is a complete food. Having decided, say, that you will have a cream soup, take half a pint of stock for each person, or no stock, and in it 3 place milk. Suppose you cliooso potato soup. Peel and slice tlio potatoes and one onion; cook them in the stock or milk, witfh seasoning, till soft. Then rub through a sieve. Potato soup needs some thickening, or the potatoes sink to the bottom, so blend a dessertspoonful each of cornflour and of margarine or dripping in a little pan over the fire, and add to the soup. The soup should be served with toast or one of the rye breads on the market, and can be followed by something very light, as it is so satisfying. Onion soup, carrot soup, tomato, Brussels sprout puree, are all made in the same way. Have tomato soup when the cheap tomatoes are in the shops, or buy a small tin of tomatoes, or of tomato puree.

Thick vegetable soups are also an excellent meal. Minestrone, the soup beloved of the Italians, is nice, and this is the way it is made: Take half a pint of stock for each person, and put in a saucepan. If you have any scraps of meat, eut them finely or mince through the mincer. Spread ou a vegetable grater one carrot, one or two onions and a piece of turnip—not too much. If you have a cabbage, use a couple of leaves, finely shredded. Minestrone, as a matter of fact, varies with the season. You can put in any vegetable, finely chopped. Some people like spaghetti or vermicelli with minestrone, but I think that rice is the best, and improves the soup. You add about 2oz of rice or a handful of broken spaghetti or vermiwhich should be put in when the soup is boiling. It should be thick when the soup is done. A little grated cheese, sprinkled on the top, adds to the flavour. Serve very hot.

Salads. A salad is always a tasty adjunct to a' meal. Salad needs very careful preparation. First of all, give your leaveslettuce, chicory, cabbage hearts, or what not—a good washing, and then half an hour's very cold bath in salted water, preferably with a little ice in the water. This helps the leaves to regain any crispness they may have lost since they left the ground. After they arc washed and bathed, and before they arc used, they must be thoroughly dried. If you have a salad basket, put the dripping green stuff into it, and shako it well, so that the moisture flies from the leaves. Then use a dry cloth, but very gently. Salad leaves ought not to be cut with a knife, but torn into convenient pieces with very clean fingers. If a knife is used at all, it should be of silver.

Salacl needs comparatively little dressing; never smother it. The simplest dressing is the best—oil, a very little red wine or vinegar, mustard, pepper and salt, a dash of sugar, and a little cream, if you like it. Tomatoes, cut very finely, with or without a little onion and herbs, make a tasty salad. You must place them first in hot water for two or three minutes. Then you peel-them and let them stand on ice in a very cold place as long as possible, to regain their firmness. Potato salad is excellent, and apples mixed with potatoes arc liked by some. Simple Fish Dish From Provence. Provence is one of the gastronomic centres of France, and the inhabitants are particularly good in v preparing fish in a tasty manner. Below is a recipe which is well known and much liked: Moruo a la Brandade: This recipe is simple and excellent. You boil the fish, together with thyme, a bay leaf and parsley, one clove, salt, pepper. Pound the fish with lemon juice. Put it back into the saucepan, which you keep meanwhile oil a very slow fire, also keep continuing revolving while you add olive oil drop by drop, as much as will turn tho mixture into a thick paste. When it sticks to tile sides pour in gently half a glass of milk, still revolving the saucepan. This should give the consistency of thick cream. Meanwhile mince parsley, a little orange rind, and an anchovy, and saute them two minutes in butter, add a little garlic if you like it. Do not forget that the fish must be kept very hot, but must never boil. If the "brandade" is 100 oily, mix a little mashed potato with it before serving.