HOME INTERESTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3336, 20 February 1918, Page 52

HOME INTERESTS.

BAKED TOMATOES WITH RICE AND CHEESE. Eight tomatoes, four cupfuls of cold boiled rice, one cupful grated cheese, two teaspoonfuls of salt, two tablespoonfuls of chopped paisley or celery-top. Select large, oven-sized tomatoes, wash, and cut off the stem ends; remove the centres and place the tomatoes in a colander, cut side down, for 20 minutes. Fill with a mixture made as follows:—Mix the rice, cheese, and seasoning together; fill into the tomatoes; sprinkle with breadcrumbs and place on a baking sheet or a pie plate; put into a hot oven for 30 minutes, or bake until nice and brown. Serve, with tomato sauce made from the inside of tomato, which has been seasoned and thickened with cornflour. CAULIFLOWER IN BATTER. Wash and cleanse the cauliflower and halfboil it in salted water. Drain, divide the branches, and shake in a quarter of a pint of vinegar seasoned with salt and pepper. Then fry m a batter. To make the batter, beat up one egg and sift in one cupful of flour; add half a cupful of milk, a pinch of salt, < and one tablespoonful of olive oil. Mix smooth, and stand the mixture in a cool place for one hour. Dip the brandies of cauliflower separately, drop into smokmghot fat, and fry to a golden brown. Drain. Serve hot, garnished with paisley. BARLEY BREAD. With three-fourths barley mix one-fourth ordinary flour. For about 4lb allow a small tablespoonful of salt and loz of compressed yeast. With the yeast stir a teaspoonful of fine sugar, and when liquid add a good sprinkling of pepper ' and two teacupfuls of tepid water. This pour into a well made in the centre of the flour, and stand the bowl in "a warmcorner, not too near the fire. When bubbles appear on the surface, knead it to a rather stiff dough, adding tepid water gradually, then cover with a cloth and return to the warm corner. When the dough has risen to nearly double its original size divide into peces which, when flattened out, will form cakes nearly 2in thick and 6n or 7ia across. Leave them oh tins near the fire until they begin to rise; then bake in a moderately hot oven. Should the oven be too cool, or the dough too soft, they will most likely spread instead of rising properly. If preferred, the dough may ba baked in rather shallow loaves. CAMP PIE. Take lib of any cold meat and cut it into neat little squares. Slice three .onions, and fry them in loz of dripping. Add one heaped-up teaspoonful of flour, half a pint of gravy, and salt and pepper to taste. Place the meat in a piedish, and pour over it the gravy and onioHs. Put half a pint of breadcrumbs on the- top and bake in a slow oven for one hour. COLD MEAT AND VEGETABLE PIEJ. This makes quite a substantial dish, and very little meat is needed. Take a piedish and put a layer of cold cooked potatoes in the bottom, then a layer of pieces of co'd meat, then a layer of fried tomatoes and onion; continue this until the dish is full, and cover with pastry or mashed potatoes. BEDFORD SOUP. Required: One pound of potatoes, lib of turnips, one large onion, 2oz of dripping, tbree pints of stock (meat or vegetable), Jib of minced carrot, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, six allspice, bacon trimmings, seasoning. Prepare and chop the vegetables, except the carrot. Melt the dripping in a saucepan, add the onion, potato, and turnip, and fry these a good brown. Next add the stock, allspice, and any scalded bacon bones and rinds you may have. Shake in half a teaspoonful of salt, cover the- pan to prevent evaportaion and loss of flavour, and simmer till the vegetables are soft. Rub the soup through a fine sieve, and pour it back into a clean pan. Heat till boiling; then put in the carrot (do not mince this till it is needed, as it is . apt to get discolouied if left standing), and boil gently for 10 minutes, or till it is soft. Now comes a point where common sense is needed. The soup, when finished, should be like rich cream ; but its consistency will depend on the nature of the vegetables, whether they were watery or not. Notice how thick it is, then, if needed, > add more stock, or even water; or, if it is too thin, add a thickening of flour, fine oatmeal, or cornflour, mixed smoothly with water; or add a Httle semolina, and boil w<?>ll again. At the last add seasoning and chopped parsley, and servo with large sippets of fried bread.