COOKERY.

New Zealand Mail, 3 December 1896, Page 68

COOKERY.

SOME CELERY SNIPPETS.

Ceiery should be found upon every table, if for no other reason than because it is so justly celebrated as a nervine. Thin, nervous or, more properly speaking 1 , nerveless—people are specially benefited by its use, and the careful housewife, she who “ looketh well to the ways of her household,” and who also recognises that variety is the spice of life, finds many and various methods of tempting the appetite with savoury dishes of this popular vegetable, for the taste for celery is usually an acquired one. If served raw, it should be placed in cold water an hour before using, then cleaned and arranged on a celery dish. A more ornamental way is to cut the stalks in pieces four inches long, split these four or five times with a sharp knife, lay in cold water till they curl, then remove to a glass dish ; eat with vinegar, pepper, and salt. CELERY SOUP. Take three roots of celery, wash, and cut into small pieces, put into a saucepan, cover with water ; boil i half hour, then press through a colaVfler. Put a quart of milk on to boil in the water in which the celery was boiled. Chop an onion, and put in with the celery ; mix together an ounce of butter and two tablespoonfuls of flour, and stir in the boiling soup. Season with salt and pepper, let it boil up once, and serve. CELERY SALAD. ' Cut half a dozen heads of celery (after first washing and wiping them dry) into small pieces, and put into a salad bowl. Mix together the yolk of one egg, a teaspoonful of mustard, a little salt and pepper, the juice of one lemon, and two tablespoonfuls of water. Beat well together, add four ounces of olive oil, drop by drop, and pour over the celery. Place on ice before serving. CELERY SANDWICHES. Whip a gill of thick cream, and add to it sufficient grated cheese to make a stiff ■paste; spread this on sliced bread, and then sprinkle thickly with very finelyminced white stalks of celery. These sandwiches should be made just before serving, and the cheese must be freshly grated. Any sharp, well-flavoured cheese that can be grated will answer.

STEWED CELERY. Clean the heads thoroughly. Take off the coarse, green outer leaves, cut in small pieces, and stew in a little broth. When tender, add a cupful of sweet cream, a teaspoonful of flour, and a piece of butter the size of a filbert. Season with pepper and salt. CELERY SAUCE. Scrape the outside stalks of celery, and cut it in pieces an inch long. Let stand in cold water half an hour, then put in boiling water enough to cover and cook until tender drain off water, and dress with butter, salt and milk or cream, thickensd with a little flour ; or, add to half pint of cream the well-beaten yolks of two eggs, a bit of butter, and a little salt and pepper. Bring just to boiling point, and pour over the stewed celery. This makes a nice sauce for roast duck.

LUNCHEON DISHES. A luncheon without meat is often very acceptable in hot weather, and makes a pleasant variety from the three meat meals we so often indulge in. If there is any doubt about the fish keeping, the fillets can be cooked early in the morning and put into the oven again to get hot through while the sauce is being made. Particular attention should be paid to soup in hot weather; it is a most desirable food in summer, being light and nutritious and stimulating the appetite. The following recipes are very easy to carry out, and if a little more Bechamel sauce is made than is wanted for the fish, it will do nicely for the eggs and anchovy. WHITE MACARONI SOUP. Three pints white stock, 1 pint milk, loz butter, 2oz macaroni, loz cornflour, salt. Mix the stock and milk together, and let it boil up ; put the butter into a saucepan, and when it is melted stir in the cornflour and mix well; pour over the stock and stir until it boils, boil the macaroni in weak white stock for twenty - five minutes; strain off and. cut into 1 inch lengths ; put into the c soup, and simmer for quarter of an hour ; it is then ready to serve. A little cream is an improvement.

PISH AND BECHAMEL SAUCE

One fish, loz of butter, loz flour, 1 onion, ldoz peppercorns, 1 carrot, 1 gill milk, lemon juice and salt. Fillet the fish, wash the bone and put it into a saucepan with the vegetables, &e.; cover with cold water, and boil for one hour ; strain off the liquor, take one gill and mix it with an equal quantity of milk; put the butter into a saucepan, and when melted stir m the flour; mix well, pour over the liquor, and stir till it boils; take from the fire, season with salt and lemon juice, and it is ready. The fillets of the fish must be cut into shape and baked in the oven with a little butter and lemon juice; the sauce may either be poured over or served separately. STEAMED PUDDING. One cup flour, 1 cup currants, loz sugar, £ cup milk, 1 teaspoonful baking powder, nutmeg or lemon to taste. Mix the flour, currants, sugar and baking powder together, add a little grated lemon peel or nutmeg for flavouring, and mix into a thick batter with the milk; turn into a buttered basin and steam for two hours. Serve with butter and sugar or custard sauce. EGGS AND ANCHOVT SAUCE. Three eggs, 1 gill melted butter sauce, 1 tablespoonful anchovy sauce, 6 croutons of fried bread, pepper and Balt. Boil the

eggs hard and chop the whites and yolks separately, cut the rounds of bread in half and fry them a good colour, mix the anchovy with the melted butter sauce, put the fried bread round a plate, and fill the centre with the sauce and eggs in layers, leaving plenty of yolk of egg for the top. Serve hot.