Eighteenpenny Dinners.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVII, Issue 22, 1 December 1906, Page 38

Eighteenpenny Dinners.

MENU No. I. RABBIT EN CASSEROLE. POTATO STRAWS, GRILLED TOMATOES. FEATHER PUDDING. The need is often felt for suggestions for very inexpensive, yet recherche dinners that can be easily prepared by the average plain cook. With the hope, therefore, of supplying this vqffntj I propose for a week or two to insert a few menus, the eost of which shall nof exceed about one shilling and sixpence- for four persons. I shall aim also at giving recipes as free from trouble as is possible, with the usual demands of good cooking and serving. Do not imagine that the following menus can be carried out if every, ingre dieut has to be specially purchased

Il is taken for granted that the meal is to be prepared in one of the thousands of homes that esist "everywhere, where every penny is of importance, but where the common ingredients in daily use are to hand. '. . „■ < ‘

Our housewife must be a thrifty one; the pantry shelf, no matter how small it lie, must display a clean jar of clarified dripping and another of precious stock made from all the suitable scraps of bones and trimmings of meat and vegetables, etc. I’arsely and onions from the garden, or a pennyworth froni the greengrocer’s, will last some while if used with discretion. and the stalks of the former placed in fresh water.

Should the garden produce fruit of any kind, a tart should cost the merest trifle, and a simple savoury of cheesa might be indulged in. There is usually a dry piece of some kind on hand.

Have the potatoes carefully cooked; this is good economy. A pound of plain boiled potatoes looks meagre and commonplace, but with the expenditure of just' a little more time and a small amount of some other ingredient, they can be done in some fancy style, and the dinner gains a touch of refinement and style that reflects credit both on mistress and cook.

Rabbit en Cassarolc.—Required: One wild rabbit, four ounces of bacon scraps, one carrot, one onion, one -ounce of flour, one pint of stock or water, salt, pepper, nutmeg, four allspice. Wash the rabbit well in tepid salt water. Cut it into neat joints; chop the liver and heart very finely; trim the bacon, cut it in large dice, and fry it slightly in-a frying pan. Next fry the pieces of rabbit and sliced onion also -in the bacon fat. When browned, take out the rabbit and onion, ~ and place them iii a casserole, or. failing that, a stewing jar. Fry the flour"carefully till a light brown. Pour on to it the stock, and stir this same over-the fire till it boils and thickens. Pour this over the rabbit in the casserole, and the washed and scraped carrot cut in.'large dice, the allspice? and a little salt and pepper. Put,, the lid on -the--casserole, ■. and place it in a moderately hot oven for one and a half hours. - After that time, season it • carefully.- and serve on the casserole. Should the stewing jar be unsightly, the -stew could be turned out on to a hot dish.

Potato Straws.—Required:. One pound of potatoes, salt, fat for frying. Wash and scrub the potatoes and peel them carefully, cut them into thin slices, and then into straws as much as possible the size of matches. Have ready a pan of frying fat; when a bluish smoke rises from it, put in some of the straws and fry them a delicate brown. Drain them well on kitchen paper, dust them’ with a little salt, and served them piled up in a hot vegetable dish. Grilled Tomatoes (when in season).— Required: One pound of cooking'tomatoes, a small piece of dripping, salt, pepper, a teaspoon fill of chopped parsley, if possible. ■ Wipe and stalk the tomatoes. . Cut them through in halves, cutting them round. Rub the gridiron with dripping, lay on the tomatoes, and grill them over, or in front of a quick, clear fife till they' are tender. Probably they will not n’eed about ten minutes. Serve in a hot vegetable-dish, put a tiny’bit of dripping on each, and dust with salt, pepper and 'parsley, If grilling is not a convenient method for any reason, put the tomatoes on a baking tin in the oven and bake them till cooked -—they trill be quite as excellent done in this wayA £ - Feather Pudding.—Required: One egg, 2ozs. of beef ' dripping. 2pzs. of castor sugar, two ounces of -flour, two tablespoonfuls of milk, one headed teaspoonful of baking poAvder. nutmeg to taste. Beat the dripping and sugar till a soft cream. Sepearate the yolk and white of the egg. Add the yolk to the. creamed dripping, and beat it well for about five minutes. Whip the’ white/of- the egg to a very stiff froth.'' Mix the Sibur and baking powder together and stir them very lightly injo the dripping, etc. Next add the white of egg as gently as possible, and the nutmeg. Well grease a tin or basin, half fill the basin ;tvith the mixture. using a second one if is too much mixture. Cover with a piece of greased paper, anil steam the pudding gently for about tlTree-quarters of in hour; —-or till, wliyry tried with a skewer, the centre is' qnite set. Turn it out on to a hot dish,> serve at once with jam or stewed fruit. - ■. ‘