Egg-Plant (Aubergines)

2046—AUBERGINES A L’ÉGYPTIENNE

Cut them into two lengthwise; trim them round the edges; _cisel_ the middle of each with the view of facilitating the cooking process, and cook them.

Drain them; remove the pulp from their insides, and set the shells on a buttered _gratin_ dish.

This done, chop up the withdrawn pulp; add thereto a little chopped onion cooked in oil, and the same quantity of very lean, chopped, and cooked mutton as there is egg-plant pulp.

Fill the egg-plant shells with this preparation; sprinkle with a few drops of oil, and set in the oven for fifteen minutes. On withdrawing the dish from the oven, set on each egg-plant a few roundels of tomato, tossed in oil; sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve.

2047—AUBERGINES AU GRATIN

Fry the egg-plants as above; empty them, chop up their pulps, and add to it an equal weight of dry Duxelles (No. 223). Garnish the shells with this preparation, set them on a _gratin_ dish, sprinkle them with raspings and a few drops of oil, and cause the _gratin_ to form.

Surround the egg-plants with a border of light half-glaze sauce when serving.

2048—AUBERGINES FRITES

Cut the egg-plants into thin roundels; season and dredge them, and fry them in smoking oil. Dish them on a napkin, and serve immediately, that they may be eaten crisp. If they wait at all, they soften, and thereby lose quality.

2049—AUBERGINES A LA PROVENÇALE

Proceed as for No. 2047, but replace the Duxelles by tomatoes tossed in oil and flavoured with a little garlic.

Set the _gratin_ to form in the same way, and surround the egg-plants with a border of tomato sauce when taking them out of the oven.

2050—AUBERGINES SOUFFLÉES

Cut some fine egg-plants into two; _cisel_ them, and fry them in the usual way; remove the pulp from their insides, and set the shells on a buttered _gratin_ dish. Finely chop the withdrawn pulp, and mix therewith an equal quantity of reduced Béchamel sauce, combined with grated Parmesan.

Add some white of egg beaten to a stiff froth, allowing as much of it as for an ordinary _soufflé_.

Garnish the egg-plant shells with this preparation, and cook in a moderate oven, as for ordinary _soufflé_. On withdrawing the dish from the oven, serve instantly.

2051—AUBERGINES A LA TURQUE

Peel the egg-plants and cut them, each lengthwise, into six slices.

Season, dredge, and fry these slices in oil; pair them off, and join them together by means of a very firm preparation of raw egg-yolks and grated, fresh cheese. When about to serve, dip them into batter, and fry them in smoking oil.

Dish on a napkin with very green fried parsley.

These stuffed slices of egg-plant may be treated _à l’anglaise_ instead of with batter.

2052—CARDOONS (Cardons)

_Treatment and Cooking Process._—After having suppressed the green outside leaf-stalks, detach the white ones all round, and cut these into three-inch lengths. Peel these lengths, rub them with lemon, that they may not blacken, and throw them, one by one, into fresh acidulated water.

Prepare the heart of the cardoon in the same way, after having withdrawn the fibrous parts, and cook the whole in a Blanc (No. 167), with one lb. of chopped veal fat, sprinkled over its surface, that the cardoon may be kept from blackening by exposure to the air.

Cook gently for about one and one-half hours.

2053—CARDONS AU PARMESAN

After having well drained the sections, build them into a pyramid in successive layers. Sprinkle each row with a few drops of good half-glaze sauce, and with grated Parmesan. Cover the whole with the same sauce; sprinkle with grated Parmesan, and set to glaze quickly.

2054—CARDONS A LA MORNAY

Proceed exactly as above, but replace half-glaze sauce by Mornay sauce. Glaze quickly, and serve immediately.

2055—CARDONS A LA MILANAISE

Proceed as for “Asperges à la Milanaise” (No. 2041).

2056—CARDONS WITH VARIOUS SAUCES

They may be served either with gravy, or Half-glaze, Cream, Hollandaise, _Mousseline_, Italienne, or Bordelaise sauces.

The sauce is either poured over them or served separately.

If the sauce be poured over the cardoons, they are dished in a timbale; if the sauce be sent separately, they may be served on a silver drainer, like asparagus.

2057—CARDONS A LA MOELLE

Dish the cardoons in a pyramid on a round dish; cover them with a marrow sauce (No. 45), and surround them with very small puff-paste patties garnished with poached marrow dice. Or dish the cardoons in a timbale, and set thereon the heart cut into roundels and arranged in a crown, with a slice of poached marrow on each roundel of heart.

Cover the whole with marrow sauce.

2058—CŒUR DE CARDON AUX FINES HERBES

Having cooked the heart of the cardoon, trim it all round so as to give it the cylindrical shape, and cut it laterally into roundels one-third inch thick.

Roll these roundels in some pale, thin, buttered meat glaze, combined with chopped herbs. Prepared in this way, the heart of a cardoon constitutes an excellent garnish for Tournedos and _sautéd_ chickens.