LA BONNE CUISINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 229, 26 September 1936, Page 3 (Supplement)

LA BONNE CUISINE.

LAND OF GOOD FOOD. SOME TASTY RECIPES. (By A FRENCH CHEF.) France has ever been regarded as the land of good food; certainly, the French make more of a ritual of eating than we do, but after a "petit dejeuner" of rolls and coffee, the luncheon one gets in France is better appreciated than it would be in England. But some of the dishes, served as a separate course, are really worth noting. With fruit or a sweet, for instance, "Gnocchi a lTtalienne" would make an ideal lunch for a woman. Family Dish. The quantities given here are sufficient for a family dish. Use one and a, half pints of milk, grated cheese (the French use gruvere, but Cheddar will serve), a Jib butter, Alb semolina, five eggs, salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste, and two tablespoonfuls flour. Put one pint of milk in a clean enamelled lined saucepan, with the butter; melt this and let the milk come to a boil, then add salt to taste, a dash 01 nutmeg, add a little black pepper, also shake in the semolina and stir this with a wooden spoon. It must be stirred to a paste and stirring must be continued antil the paste comes away from the j;an. Now set the saucepan to one side of the stove, and add the five eggs, one after another, stirring in each one, and then beating well into the paste. Stir Well. When all have been worked in, add the grated cheese, keeping a little back for sprinkling on top when the dish is finished. Stir all well together, then turn the paste out on a floured board and cut it into pieces about one inch square. Have a saucepan of hot water realy and when this boils throw in the gnocci (the pieccs of paste) and let them boil for four or five minutes. Remove with a strainer and dip in cold water. Now drain well. Make a white sauce with butter, flour and milk; have a fireproof dish ready. Well butter this. Place a layer of cooked spjnacli or cookcd tomatoes in the dish, place the gnocci on top of this, then pour the sauce over all, and sprinkle with the rest of the grated cheese. Set the dish in a fairly quick oven or beneath the grill, and serve very hot. A variation of this> cooked green beans, shredded, or haricot verts, may be used, for the under layer. -Thi'S is a dish that the children will enjoy. If you have a guest who does not care for maigre dishes, give him cotellettes de mouton a la Maintenon, with a creamy onion sauce, and a delicate accompanime.it of mushrooms, or serve the cotelets with a thick bechamel sauce. Dish for a Monarch. These cotelets are christened after Marquise Francoise d'Aubigne, the favourite of Louis Nl\., who in*\ ented the dish to tempt the appetite of the monarch when ill. Louis Xl\ . had a i delicate digestion and could not partake

of ricli dishes or of food in which there was too much fat, so that for his Majesty the cotelets were always cooked in an envelope of paper. To-day they are usually fried in butter, then masked in a thick bechamel sauce, to which grated cheese and onion puree are added. The cotelets are placed for a few minutes with the sauce over them to brown in the oven, then the browned butter in the dish in which they have been cooked is poured over them at the last minute. But the accompaniments of mushrooms, cooked French • fashion, makes a veritable dish for the pods. I watched a French cook prepare these. She cleaned the button mushrooms with a silver knife, placing each when done on a plate, and when all were cleaned put them into a basin, poured a little cold water over and rubbed them, explaining that mushrooms become pure white when Tubbed this way. Then they were drained in a. colander. Lemons with Mushrooms. To every pound of button mushrooms one must allow the juice of half a lemon and 2oz of butter. This must be put into a clean saucepan and the cleaned mushrooms put into this when the butter is melted. The saucepan must then be set over the fire and the mushrooms allowed to boil for three minutes. Next use a smaller pan and in this put a lump of butter the size of an egg, half a cupful or rather more of warm milk, salt and pepper to taste, and stir in a level tablespoonful of flour. Mix this well together and then cook for eight minutes, stirring with a woodea spoon. Adding the Cream. Last of all stir in a tablespoonful of cream. Be careful not to add this until the sauce has slightly cooled. Put mushrooms in a hot dish, pour sauce around and serve with the cotelets, or as a* separate dish with friend croutons. Oyster Cnistade. Allow four oysters to each person, open and put into a jar, together with the liquor. Bring one pint of milk to the boil, season with mace, lemon rind, white pepper and a morsel of cayenne. Thicken with a little cornflour. W hen the mixture is nice and smooth, pour in the oj'sters with the liquor and cook gentlv for two minutes. Place in a fireproof dish and cover with cream cracker?, crushing with a rolling pin. Put in the oven and warm through. Sheep's Head Crustade. Clean the iiead and boil till tender. Remove meat from bone, season with pepper and salt. While the tongue is hot skin it, and put the meat, winch must bo cut in pieces, pie-disli in layers. Now, half'fill the di*li with stock and cover with ordinary pastry. Bake in hot oven for half an hour. Serve with boiled carrots and onioiis. This is a favourite family dish with the French. It is cheap and nourishing and easily digested.