HOME INTERESTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3829, 2 August 1927, Page 66

HOME INTERESTS.

LOBSTER MAYONNAISE. Required:—One lobster; one or more lettuce ; a piece of endive; mayonnaise sauce; a small piece of cucumber. Wash and prepare the ealad and tear it into convenientsized pieces. Remove all meat from the body and claws of the lobster. Put. the feelers and some of the reddest -'f the claws aside and cut up the rest of th* meat. Mix the pieces of lobster with tne salad, and arrange them in a salad bowl, place the feelers upright in the centre and garnish with the pieces of claw which were put aside and a' few pieces of feathery endive. Hand round with the salad a Tittle mayonnaise sauce. OYSTERS ON TOAST. Elace each oyster on a neat -square of toast, dust with pepper and salt, and bake. Serve with melted butter, to which has been added lemon-juice, seasonings, and a suspicion of cayenne. OYSTER RAREBIT. Clean, Parboil and drain a dozen oysters, and retain the liquor. Melt two tablespoonfuls ol butter in a chafing dish, and add half a pound of soft mild cheese coarsely grated, salt, and a few grains of cayenne. As the cheese melts, add the oyster liquor gradually, and stir in two eggs, slightly beaten. When the mixture has combined, add the oysters and serve very hot on large cracker biscuits. “.SCOTCH PETTICOAT TAILS.” These, sometimes fantastically called “ Scotch Petticoat Tails,” are much in demand during the Christmas season. They

are easily made in this way:—Rub 6 ounces of butter into 11b of flour, and odd 6 ounces of sugar, working the latter well in. Mix with a little water to a smooth dough, and divide in two. Roll each piece into a round cake the size of a dinner plate. Cut a round cake from the centre of each with a cutter, and divide the rounds into eight equal parts. Dust with fine sugar, prick the top all over with a fork, and bake in a moderate oven for about 29 minutes. A SANDWICH WORTH TRYING.

Mix two tablespoonfuls of finely-chopped walnuts with two ounces of finely-grated dry cheese and three ounces of fresh butter, beaten to a cream. These ingredients must be thoroughly blended together, and the mixture spread thickly on slices of brown biead (this must be quite a day old, or it will crumble . Cover each slice with another, and cut into neat, small shapes. POTATO CHEESE CAKES. Half a pound of boiled mealy potatoes well beaten with fork, add six ounces granulated sugar, a quarter of a pound of butter melted, two eggs, and the grated rind and juice of one lemon, beat the mixture well, and lino some email tins with pastry, then add a little of the curd in each and bake in a brisk oven. PEA SOL’P. Required:—Half a pint of split peas; one ounce of dripping or butter; one large onion, a carrot, a turnip; half a head of celery :’ a small bunch of parsley; two quarts of water, stock, or pot liquor; a raw ham bone or some bacon trimmings; salt and pepper. Soak the peas over night. Drain off the water from them. Melt the dripping or butter in a saucepan. When it is hot, add to it the peas onion, turnip, carrot, and the celery all thinly sliced. Stir these oyer the fire in the dripping for five minutes. Next put in the parsley, and the water, stock, or pot liquor (liquor that meat has been boiled in), the bam bone or bacon trimmings. Cook all gently two hours and a-half, or till the peas are quite soft. Then rub all the soup through a wire sieve. Reboil, well season with salt and pepper and some dried finely-powdered mint with it. Lentils may be treated in the same way, to make lentil soup. FRIED FISH. Required:—One medium-sized sole or plaice ; one egg ; breadcrumbs : a little flour : salt and pepper; frying fat. Wash, dry, and fillet the fish carefully; there will be two fillets from each side. Add fo the flour a good dust of salt and pepper, dip each fish in this flour and shake off all the flour that docs not adhere to it. Beat up the egg on a plate, brush the fish over with it, then cover with breadcrumbs, pressing them firmly on with a knife. Have ready a pan of deep frying fat, when the faint bluish smoke arises from it, put in one or two of the pieces of fish, and let them fry till they are a delicate golden-brown, lift them on to a baking-tin lined with kitchen paper, let them drain well. Arrange them on a lace paper and garnish them with fried parsley. Anv kind of fish may be treated in this wav. Whiting arc usually curled round and the’ tails stuck thtrough the eyeholes. Cod is usually cut into steaks, abcut an inch thick, and then egged and crumbed. Fresh haddock may be filleted or merely cut in thick steaks. If preferred, the fish may be coated in battter, instead of eg<r and crumbs. The batter is made thus:—Mix together a quarter of a feaspoonful of salt and a quarter of a pound of flour, stir to these smoothly a, quarter of a pint of tepid water and one tablespoonfnl of oil or melted dripping. Beat the white of an egg very stiffly, then add it lightly to the batter and it is readv.