LA BONNE CUISINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 181, 1 August 1936, Page 3 (Supplement)

LA BONNE CUISINE.

(By A FRENCH •pHEF.)

SOME SAVOURY DISHES. POPULAR WITH HUSBANDS.

It has been said that we gain happiness by making other people happy. If this is true, a wife has a wonderful opportunity of being happy, by making those little dishes for her husband which she knows he will enjoy. She will remember that tasty dishes, generally appeal to his appetite, and that incidentally, she will enjoy them herself at tha same time.

With most men savoury dishes are very popular, and in many cases they are preferred to sweets. But, alas! It is more difficult to think of a savoury than a sweet, and with some the only alternative seems to be macaroni and cheese.

In giving the following recipes', the aim is to describe dishes that are not too complicated, and that do not require a very long time to make or to cook. Savoury Baked Fish. Ingredients: One fresh fish, one teaspoonful salt, a little pepper, one dessertspoonful chopped capers, two tablespoonfuls chopped nuts, one dessertspoonful vinegar or lemon juice, half teacupful stock or gravy, and some butter or bacon fat.

Split the fish as for broiling, removing the bone and cutting off the fins. .Season it with pepper and salt, and lay it in a fiat, fire-proof dish that lias been greased with bacon fat. Pour the stock round, sprinkle the fish with lemon juice, and then with the chopped capers and nuts. Cover with greased paper and bake in a good oven about twenty minutes. Serve garnished with cut lemon, and with radishes or watercress. Mushrooms in the Italian Way. Ingredients: Half a pound fresh mushrooms, butter the size of an egg, one teaspoonful chopped onions, one teacupfill stock, half teacupful tomato puree, seasoning, boiled rice, grated cheese and toast.

Peel and wash mushrooms, remove the stalks. Let . them lie for a few minutes in cold water with a little salt, then rinse them free from grit, and drain well. Take a shallow pan or frying pan and rub it over with a clove of garlic (if liked), put it in the chopped onion and mushroom and fry them until they begin to brown. Then .add the stock, the tomato puree (made from fresh tomatoes if possible, rubbed through a sieve) and seasoning to taste. Cover and simmer slowly until the mushrooms are sufficiently cooked. Arrange them neatly on some fingers of toast, reduce the sauce in the pan, if necessary, and pour it over. Garnish with cut lemon and parsley. A dish of well-boiled rice and grated eiieese should be served separately.

Mock Pate de Foie Gras. This is good to serve cold, or it is excellent for making sandwiches. Ingredients: Half a pound cooked calf's or sheep's liver, three or four ounces fat bacon (uncooked), one dessertspoonful chopped parsley, one dessertspoonful grated onion, a pinch of ground mace, and allspice, one teaspoonful made mustard; pepper, salt, one egg and some browned breadcrumbs. Put the liver and baeon two or "three times through the mincing machine until very fine and smooth. Add the parsley and different seasonings to the mixture, making it very tasty. Pour in the egg, lightly beaten, and mix well until thoroughly blended. Grease a plain mould or basin, coat the inside with browned breadcrumbs and fill with the mixture. Twist a piece of greased paper over the top, and bake in a moderate oven from three-quarters to one hour, then leave until cold, and cut in slices as required. Egg Savoury. Ingredients.—To four hard-boiled eggs, allow one breakfast cupful white sauce, one tcaspoonful curry powder, and half a. pound small sausages, itake some good white sauce fairly thick and well seasoned, and add the curry powder previously mixed with a little cold milk. Cut the eggs in slices, reserving half a yolk. Tut the pieces into the sauce and let tliem heat through, but without baking.

Choose small sausages, or make little lakes or balls or sausage meat, and fry them until thoroughly cooked.

Arrange the egg-mixture in the centre of the dish, sprinkle it with chopped yolk of egg, and use the sausages as a garnish.

A Good Chutney. Ingredients.—One pound each of apples, seeded raisins, onions, and tomatoes, half a pound Demerara sugar, two tables poonfuls preserved ginger, finely chopped, one teaspoonful salt and half of pepper, a pinch of cayenne, half teaspoonful ground cloves, and brown malt vinegar. Peel and core the apples, then weigh them and cut them in pieces, skin and scald the onions, cut them in pieces, and put them through the mincing machine along with the apples and seeded raisnis. Place the tomatoes in hot water for a minute or two, then remove the skin and cut them 111 pieces, and mix them with the other ingredients. Add the ginger and seasoning, and put all into an enamelled saucepan, and nearly cover the ingredients with brown malt vinegar. First bring to the boil, ■stirring all the time, then simmer slowly and steadily for two hours, stirring every now and then, pour into dry hot ja>'s and cover like jam. Should be kept a fortnight at least before using.