The Kitchen

Observer, Volume XL, Issue 8, 25 October 1919, Page 25

The Kitchen

[By Dolores.]

PEANUTS

An entire dinner menu could be worked out with this nourishing little nut as a basis, yet, except in cakes and rolls, it is seldom used in cooking. The housewife who makes a practice of keeping a small quantity of peanuts always on hand will often find a new use for them. * » » Peanut Soup. Simmer 1 cupful of chopped peanuts with 1 quart of milk, a pinch of powdered thyme, a teaspoonful of grated onion, and 1 teaspoonful of finely-chopped celery for 15 minutes. Mix 2 tablespoonsful of arrowroot in a cupful of cold milk, and add it to the boiling soup. Stir it smooth, and simmer for 5 minutes longer. Add salt to taste. * * * I Peanut Croquettes. For an entree, try these. Have ready a cupful of ordinary white sauce. To a pint of hot mashed potato, add 3 tablespoonsful of this sauce, £ teaspoonful of salt, and £ teaspoonful of pepper, also a teaspoonful of grated onion. Beat the mixture well, and add the yolk of an egg, also well beaten. Then stir together £ cupful of fine breadcrumbs and s-cupful of white sauce until the mixture forms a thick paste. Add half the beaten yolk of a second egg. When it is cool, add to it as many chopped peanuts as the bread mixture will hold without their dropping out. Roll the bread and nut mixture into little balls, cover these with the potato mixture, rolling smooth. Beat up the remaining half-egg yolk, diluted with a tablespoonful of water; dip the croquettes in this, and then in finelysifted breadcrumbs. Fry them till a light brown. * * * Peanut Roast. Peanuts also combine well with rice. This peanut roast may be served by itself in place of meat, or may help to make the cold meat equal the family appetite. Take %- pint of minced peanuts, of nicely-boiled rice, s-pint of breadcrumbs, 6 soda biscuits, a level teaspoonful of salt, and of sweet milk. Crush the biscuits well with the rolling-pin, and mix them with the breadcrumbs, salt, rice, and the minced peanuts. Beat 1 egg without separating. Stir the egg into the milk, and the two combined into the dry ingredients. Grease well an earthen dish, fill this with the mixture, and smooth it on top. Place small pieces of butter on top, cover it, and bake for half an hour. When it is done, turn out on a meat dish, and surround it with a nice sauce, flavoured well with onion. « * » Peanut Salads. To a plain salad of lettuce, add a tablespoonful of peanuts, and serve with ordinary mayonnaise. Another simple but delicious salad calls for bananas, celery, lettuce, peanuts, and mayonnaise. For this, cut the bananas in halves, and then in quarters lengthwise. Arrange these on the lettuce hearts, and decorate with short lengths of curled celery. Dot the dish with whole peanuts, and stir a tablespoonful of them finely chopped into the dressing. The celery curls are made by cutting the sticks into 3-inch lengths, and placing them in water to curl up. The eggs for these salads may be treated in this Way. When they have been boiled hard, cut them in half, and make artificial yolks of finely-minced peanuts.

Apple and Peanut Jelly. A very tempting dish can be made with very little trouble in this way. Slice the apples in circles, and heap up the centre of each slice with chopped peanuts. Leave a thin'rim of rosy skin on each slice, anVl arrange in a glass dish, with a clear lemon jelly and whipped cream. Apples, nuts, and jelly may be combined in this way also. Take some large, cooking apples, peel and core them, then fill the centres with a mince made of chopped peanuts, butter, sugar, nutmeg, and a pinch of salt. Bake them well, then, when cold, place in a glass dish, surround with a scarlet jelly, and serve with a thin enstard. <® <® <w Gingerbread (no Sugar). Take 1 cup of treacle, 1 teaspoon-' fill of soda, 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful of grcund ginger, half a teaspoonful of salt, 3 tablespoonfuls of sour milk, and li cups of flour. Mix all well together, and bake in a thick oven. © © @> Coffee Cake. Cream of butter and £lb. of s-agar; then add two eggs, and beat well. Stir in 1 tablespoonful of coffee essence, soz. of flour, and 1 small teaspoonful of baking powder. Bake in a moderate oven till cooked. @ ®> @> Coffee Jelly. Soak one ounce gelatine in half a pint of water. Dissolve it in one and a half pints of strong sweetened coffee. Add the whites of two eggs, and whisk it over the fire till it boils. Set aside for a few minutes, and strain through a jelly bag. Pour into a mould rinsed out of hot water, and stand until next day. <© ® ® French Rods. Rub an ounce of butter into a pound of flour, mix one beaten egg with a very little yeast, and as much milk as will make a dough of middling stiffness. Beat it well, but do not knead. Let the dough rise in a warm place, shape into rolls, and bake on tins. © © © Candied Peel. Have some halves of lemons, oranges, and citron peel; soak in slightly salted water for three or four days; drain and boil in clean water till soft. Make a syrup by boiling two cups of sugar and one cup of water for five minutes; put the peel which has been drained again in a basin, pour the syrup over it. and leave it for five or six days. then strain off the syrup and boil it up. Next put the oecl into the boiling syrup. and boil till it looks clear for about 15 minutes: then spread the peel on a dish, and pour the svrun into the holes: then sprinkle with fine sugar and allow it to dry in a cool oven or the sunshine. <ss ® ® Peppermint Creams. Measure the white of a new-laid egg and put it, together with an equal amount of cold water, into a small basin. Mix together, and then add gradually enough icing sugar to produce a stiff paste. Flavour with half a teaspoonful of essence of peppermint. Dust your pasteboard lightly Avith icing sugar. Turn out the paste and roll out to about a quarter of an inch in thickness. Shape into small rounds. Place them on a lightly sugar-dusted tin and dry in a very moderate oven with the door left open. Remove as soon as set. <® ® ® Humble Pie. I really think this recipe deserves a grander title. It makes a delicious dinner. Make a light paste

with £-lb. flour, 2oz. each of margarine and dripping, % teaspoon baking powder, pinch salt, and water to mix. Line a piedish with half the paste, iiiid keep enough for a cover. Now put in a lining of mashed potatoes round the dish, next one of minced meat, and fill up the centre with boiled rice. Sprinkle a chopped onion and seasonings over all, add a little stock, and cover with paste. Bake in a brisk oven for one hour. $ <® ® Curried Eggs. Boil as many eggs as required until quite hard, then remove the shells, and cut them in halves, lengthways. Slice an onion thinly and fry to a golden-brown colour in a little butter or good beef-dripping, then add a dessert-spoonful of curry powder and fry that also for* a few minutes. Now add gradually half a pint of milk, stirring all the time, thicken with a spoonful of flour mixed with some cold milk to a smooth paste. Now put in the eggs and simmer gently for about ten minutes. Arrange a border of boiled rice round a hot dish, and place the eggs and the sauce in the centre. © © © Home-made Brawn. Three-quarters of a pound of shin of beef and two pigs' feet. Cut up the beef, and stew with the feet until the bones drop off. Season with salt and pepper, press into a mould, and turn out when cold. ® <$ ® Little Known Uses for Carbonate of Soda. A pinch of carbonate of soda stirred into each pint of new milk will keep it fresh and sweet any length of time (even in the hot weather), and it in no way flavours the milk. * * * A little sprinkled on fruit, when making tarts, etc.. brings out the sweetness, and besides improving the flavour, economises in the use of sugar, as less is required. * * * Half a teaspoonful added to the water when boiling beetroot also draws out its sweetness and keeps it a good colour. © © © Baking Powder. Mix together 2oz. of tartaric acid and lib. of cream of tartar, lOoz. of baking-soda, 16oz. of flour, or 12oz. of rice flour. Sift all ingredients together five times, then put in tins or bottles for use.