LETTER TO PENELOPE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 160, 22 June 1935, Page 10

LETTER TO PENELOPE

Dear Penelope,—My mother and 1 are very interested readers of your page, and take a great delight in following out many of your suggestions. Of course, we could not do all you recommend, for apart from the fact that we do have a few other things to do besides try out recipes, lace creams, hand lotions, hair tonics, not to mention dozens of suggestions for retaining one’s sylph-like figure and preventing growth of warts, you musk remember that there are only 24 hours in the day, and by the time we have finished reading about your suggestion there is little time left to practise them. But, as 1 said before, we read Alainly for Women with interest, especially the scandal pieces and realising that you must be frightfully clever to know such a lot, we were wondering if you could delve into your large collection of recipes and see if you could find one for cooking artichokes. You see, we had some of them for dinner to-night and it was mentioned that these vegetables should not be cooked as potatoes are, they being, I presume, of a more noble family and worthy of a more aristocratic fate than that accorded the common potato. So, Penelope, if you could please publish a recipe telling the correct manner to prepare artichokes, niy mother and I would be deeply grateful. Wishing you lots of success with your women’s page.—Your interested reader, “Nancy.” I am sb glad that you find my page of interest, and in response to your inquiry about cooking artichokes I have a few ideas to suggest. There are very few ways in which to vary the cooking of artichokes, but they are best boiled or baked. They also make delicious soup. When peeling the artichokes they should be kept under water as much as possible as this helps to keep them white.

The artichokes should be boiled with not too much water, the salt being dissolved in boiling water and added about 10 minutes before they are cooked, tliis also helping to keep them white. They should be boiled about 20 minutes and watched carefully because when over-boiled they break easily and the water gets into them.

B'or baking peel carefully under water and wipe very dry before being put in with the meat. Boiled artichokes should be served with white sauce made as follows:—

Ingredients: 1 cupful milk, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1 dessertspoonful butter, pepper and salt. Alethod; Bring the milk to boiling point in a double boiler. Add to this the flour mixed to a paste with a little cold water. Add pepper, salt and butter and stir until thickened.

Artichokes also make delicious soup, a suggested recipe being as follows Ingredients; 31bs. Jerusalem artichokes, 2 pints of water, 1 pint of milk, 2ozs. butter, 2 shallots, 2 dessertspoonfuls chopped celery, 1 dessertspoonful sago, pepper and salt.

Alethod: Dissolve the butter in an enamel pan. Slice the artichokes and fry in this for five minutes, then add water, shallots, celery, and seasoning. Bril for three-quarters of an hour, add milk and sago and boil for 20 minutes stirring frequently Rub through a fine sieve into a hot soup tureen and serve.

If any other readers have any suggestions about new ways for cooking artichokes, please send them to me for the benefit of the above enquirer. “Penelope.”