LA BONNE CUISINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 58, 9 March 1935, Page 3 (Supplement)

LA BONNE CUISINE.

SAVOURIES POPULAR.

USE OF EGGS

(By A FRENCH CHEF.)

Savoury dishes, both hot and cold, afford ample choice as well as an immense scope for effective designs, eo that, no matter what season of the year, there should be no difficulty in finding a good number to select from when compiling a menu. Savouries, both hot and cold, are always popular. During recent years their popularity has considerably increased, with the result that a great number of savoury dishes are being constantly introduced. There are a number ot articles preserved in pote and bottlee, such as savoury fish and meat preparations that are ready for immediate use after being slightly heated and dressed on a croute, canape, or rounds of toast, and in this way can be converted into dainty savouries. All preparations intended to be served as savouries miiet be made up in small or individual portions, Cheese Fritters. One egg well beaten with pepper and salt with a little milk. Grate 3oz of cheese, add the mixture to it, with a piece of butter and a little more milk. Well butter some pate pans, put in the mixture, and bake in the oven about 15 minutes. They should be slightly brown on top; this makes live fritters, Oeufs au Gratin. Cut six hard-boiled eggs in slices, and arrange them in layers in a well-but-tered fireproof dish. Season each layer and dust over it a thin coating of grated cheese. Then moisten well with white sauce. When the dish is filled, shake grated cheese over the whole surface, moistening it with melted butter. Heat thoroughly and brown the surface. Another Egg Savoury. Fry a sliced onion in an ounce of butter, till it is cooked, but not browued. Add a teaspoonful of flour, aud whisk them well together, adding as much cream as will make it a thick batter. Put this mixture into a basin, and break three eggs in singly, using only the yolks. Work into the batter, adding a little salt. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff sauce, and stir gently in. Place this mixture in a mould lined with buttered paper. Bake for threequarters of an hour, and pour white sauce over them readv to serve.

Oeufs a la Normande. When quite cold cut up six hard boiled eggs, turn out the yolks, mix with finely chopped truffles" and then put the mixtures into the whites. Serve in mayonnaise sauce, to which has been added chopped truffles. A plainer variation of this dish can be made with the yolks being mixed with a paste of pickled shrimps, instead of truffles, and garnished with young lettuce leaves.

Oeufs Sauce Bechamel. Hard boil four eggs, separate the yolks from the whites, and put the yolks into a mortar, with one raw yolk and an ounce and a half of butter. Work well together. Cut the whites into strips, and put them into half a pint of Bechamel sauce. Serve hot on a dish with the yolks rubbed through a coarse sieve, and shaken over them. Garnish with croutons and brown the top. This white sauce can be used as the foundation of many egg dishes. It can be varied almost inh'nitum, with herbs, truffles, anchovies and mushrooms.

A Piquante Entree. Split four pigeons, sprinkle with salt and pepper, knead together two ounces of butter and one largo tahlespoonfiil of flour. Spread this on the split bird. Heat a little dripping in a baking tin, put the birds on it, and bake in a hot oven. Baste them well during the baking. Meanwhile, part-boil three chicken livers, then fry them brown in a little butter, chop them finely, mix with them a good seasoning of salt and pepper, a suspicion of cayenne, a few drops of onion juice, and a small sprig of parsley finely chopped. Mix together with the butter in the pail they were fried in, and make very hot-. Have ready four slices of hot toast, spread the liver juice on them, place half a bird on each, and serve very hot. Shrimp en Casserole. One tin of potted shrimp, one and a half cupfuls white sauce, one green pepper, diced, half a cupful grated cheese, half a cupful buttered breadcrumbs. Drain the potted shrimp, and put in the bottom of a shallow casserole. Mix the hot white sauce, pepper and cheese, and pour over the shrimp paste. Cover with the breadcrumbs, and put in the oven until the crumbs arc brown. Serve at once.