LA BONNE CUISINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 307, 28 December 1935, Page 3 (Supplement)

LA BONNE CUISINE.

CASSEROLE COOKERY.

RECIPES WITH TOMATOES.

(By A FRENCH CHEF.)

The "casserole" dish, bo it of tough, brown crockery or dainty green, red and blue, with gilded edge and handles, or of fireproof glass, is always useful and worry-saving. Glass is particularly suitable for fruit or vegetable casserole, yet few cooks know all the many things that a welltreated casserole will do Tor them. You can cook a small roast, with its accompanying vegetables, for instance, in a stout unlidded casserole over a low gasjet with economy and labour-saving, and the meat in the preparation will need far less attention, retain more of its flavour, swell rather than shrink, and if tough certainly prove- tenderer than if put in the oven.

Method: Warm the casserole with hot water. Put in the joint, having rubbed it with pepper, salt and flour. Add two or three ounces of butter and set on a low jet of gas. It will only need basting every quarter of ar When it is half cooked it should be turned, and that is the moment to put in the potatoes. A quarter of an hour later, whatever second vegetable is best to be served, can join the rest, be it peas, beans, sprouts or sliced Savoy cabbage. When all is cooked place meat and vegetables on separate hot dishes, while a little flour is dredged into the seasoned butter and a very little water added to make a rich gravy to serve with them. For ordinary oven casserole cookery even less attention is required after the important preparations of the contents of the dish have been completed. Butter is the secret of all successful casserole cookery". You need not be too lavish with it, but you must not be sparing. Some Appetising Tomato Dishes. Veal rolls with tomatoes is an appetising luncheon dish for all times of the year. Cut lib of veal cutlets into thin strips about 4in long and 2in wide. Chop finely a small rasher of bacon, mix it with three tablepoonfuls of fine breadcrumbs, season with salt, pepper and a tiny pinch of grated nutmeg, add a sprig of parsley finely chopped, a pinch of sweet herbs, a few drops of onion juice and a pinch of grated lemon rind. Bind to a paste with beaten egg. Spread this on the pieces of cutlet, roll up and tie securely. Slice an onion, fry it in a little butter, add a teacupful of stock. Put in the veal rolls and simmer until tender. Place on a hot dish, slice lib of tomatoes, skim the gravy in the pan, add the tomatoes, cook until tender, rub through a sieve and serve round the rolls. The> rolls should be stuffed overnight. Stuffed Tomatoes. Take some firm large tomatoes and cut a hole in the top of each. Hold them upside down, and by gentle pressing squeeze out the seeds, and then fill the centres with finely chopped onion, a little mushroom, chopped parsley, salt and pepper, and a few breadcrumbs, all mixed together and cooked in a little melted butter. Cover the opening with a, few breadcrumbs, pcur over a little melted butter and bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes. Tomato Baskets. Take six large tomatoes from which the pulp is scooped out. Mix the pulp with two tablespoonfuls of cooked peas, one hard-boiled egg, chopped fine; season well. Pile the mixture into tomato cups. Pour one spoonful of thick horseradish sauce on each, add a sprinking of parsley. Make handles of the stems of parsley. Tomato Ketchup. Tomato ketchup is popular with practically everybody and the recipe here given is a very good one. Halve or quarter—according to size—3lb of tomatoes and lay them on a dish with a sprinkling of salt. After they have stood for 24 hours let them simmer in a pan until they are soft, then strain through a sieve. Add to the liquid three small chopped onions, £oz ground ginger, a little allspice and one gill of vinegar. Allow these to boil until fairly thick and when cool strain through a colander and then bottle. Cork at once. Great care should be taken when adding spices to preserve, as some palates prefer a hot mixture and others like the merest suspicion to be added. Tomato and Banana Salad. Plunge lib of. tomatoes into boiling water and then slice them. Skin the bananas (three large ones) and cut them in slices. Arrange them alternately with the tomatoes. Sprinkle pepper and salt over them. For the dressing use the yolk of a hard-boiled egg to a gill of cream. Tomatoes and Apple Ketchup. Take 61b ripe tomatoes, 10 shallots, 21b sour green apples, 1 level tablespoonful mustard, 3 level tablespoonfuls ground ginger, soz salt, 3 pints vinegar, Jib Demerara sugar. Slice the tomatoes, put them in a casserole in a moderate oven and cover them. Cook, until soft, then rub through a sieve. Peel and chop the shallots finely, peel, core and chop the apple. Put all the ingredients in a preserving pan or casserole and boil gently to a soft pulp. Bottle and seal when cold.