Brussels Sprouts (Choux de Bruxelles)

2115—CHOUX DE BRUXELLES A L’ANGLAISE

Cook them in salted water; drain them well, and dish them on a drainer or in a timbale.

2116—CHOUX DE BRUXELLES A LA CRÈME

Cook the sprouts; drain them well without cooling them; stew them in butter, and chop them up. Then combine them with as much fresh cream as possible.

2117—CHOUX DE BRUXELLES SAUTÉS

Cook them, and, after having thoroughly drained them, throw them into an omelet-pan containing some very hot butter. Toss them until they are nicely frizzled; dish them in a timbale, and sprinkle them with chopped parsley.

2118—CHOUX DE BRUXELLES AU BEURRE

Cook them, keeping them somewhat firm, and drain without cooling them.

Put them into a sautépan; season them with salt and pepper; add two oz. of butter (per lb. of sprouts) cut into small pieces; cover, and stew in the oven for one-quarter hour.

2119—PURÉE DE CHOUX DE BRUXELLES dite FLAMANDE

Three-parts cook the sprouts; drain them well without cooling them, and complete their cooking by stewing them in butter. Rub them through tammy, and add to the resulting purée one-third of its bulk of mashed potatoes.

Heat, add butter away from the fire, and dish in a timbale.

2120—SEA KALE (Chou Marin)

This is one of the best and most delicate of English vegetables.

It is trimmed with great care, washed, and then tied into bunches of from five to six plants, and these are plainly cooked in salted water.

All cardoon recipes, and sauces given for asparagus, may be applied to sea kale.

2121—CUCUMBER AND VEGETABLE MARROW (Concombres et Courgettes)

Though of different shapes, these two vegetables allow of almost the same treatment when they are cooked. They are especially used as garnishes.

2122—CONCOMBRES A LA CRÈME

Peel, and cut the cucumber to shapes resembling olives; parboil and drain these pieces. This done, three-parts cook them in butter; moisten with boiling cream, and finish the cooking in reducing the cream. At the very last moment add a little Béchamel sauce with the view of slightly thickening the preparation, and dish in a timbale.

2123—CONCOMBRES GLACÉS

After having shaped them like large garlic cloves, quickly parboil them. This done, treat them as directed under “Carottes glacées,” and roll them sufficiently in their cooking-liquor, reduced to the consistence of a thick syrup, to thoroughly coat them with it.

2124—CONCOMBRES FARCIS.—_A_

Cut the cucumbers into two-inch lengths; peel, parboil, and drain them. Then hollow them out to form small, round cases; set them side by side in a sautépan, and cook them in butter. When they are three-parts cooked, fill them with a raw, chicken forcemeat, effecting this operation by means of a piping-bag. The forcemeat should be slightly moulded in the cucumber cases.

Complete the cooking of the cucumber, gently, while poaching the forcemeat.

2125—CONCOMBRES FARCIS.—_B_

Peel the cucumbers; split them open lengthwise, and empty them by means of a root-spoon. This done, parboil and drain without cooling them.

Garnish each half-cucumber, level with the edges, with a chicken forcemeat, prepared with frangipan, and combined with a third of its weight of Duxelles. Reconstruct the cucumbers by placing the halves one against the other; wrap them each in a slice of bacon, and then in a piece of muslin, and finally string them. This done, braise them in the usual way. When they are cooked, remove their wrappings, and cut them into roundels the thickness of which is determined by the size of the piece of which they are the adjuncts.

2126—STACHYS (Crosnes du Japon)

Whatever be their mode of preparation, stachys must be cleaned, parboiled, and kept firm, and cooked in butter without colouration.

2127—CROSNES A LA CRÈME

After having parboiled the stachys and three-parts cooked them in butter, moisten with boiling cream, and complete their cooking while reducing the cream. Add a little thin, fresh cream at the last moment, and dish in a timbale.

2128—CROSNES SAUTÉS AU BEURRE

After having parboiled, drained, and dried the stachys, put them in an omelet-pan containing some very hot butter, and toss them over a fierce fire, until they are well frizzled. Dish in a timbale, and sprinkle moderately with chopped parsley.

2129—CROSNES AU VELOUTÉ

Completely cook the stachys in salted water. Drain them, and cohere them with the required quantity of Velouté flavoured with mushroom essence.

2130—CROQUETTES DE CROSNES

Having cooked the stachys in salted water, and kept them somewhat firm, thoroughly drain them and mix them with a very reduced Allemande sauce, in the proportion of one-fifth pint per lb. of stachys. Spread this preparation on a buttered dish, and cool. Now cut this preparation into portions weighing about two oz.; shape these portions like balls, pears, quoits, or otherwise, dip them in beaten eggs, and roll them in very fine bread-crumbs.

Plunge these croquettes into very hot fat five or six minutes before serving; drain them on a piece of linen; salt moderately, and dish on a napkin with very green, fried parsley.

2131—PURÉE DE CROSNES

Cook the stachys in salted water, keeping them somewhat firm, and add thereto four oz. of quartered potatoes per lb. of stachys.

As soon as they are cooked, drain the stachys and the potatoes; rub them through a sieve, and dry the purée over a very fierce fire. Add the necessary quantity of milk to bring the purée to its proper consistence; heat; add butter away from the fire, and dish in a timbale.

2132—SPINACH (Épinards)

Spinach should only be prepared at the last moment, if possible.

After having parboiled it in plenty of boiling salted water, cool it, press out all its contained water, and, according to circumstances, either chop it up or rub it through a sieve.

If it has to be served with the leaves left whole, merely drain it on a sieve, without either pressing or cooling it.

2133—ÉPINARDS A L’ANGLAISE

Cook it after having carefully shredded it; drain it well, and dish in a timbale without cooling.

2134—ÉPINARDS A LA CRÈME

Having chopped up or rubbed the spinach through a sieve, put it into a sautépan with two oz. of butter per lb., and dry it over a fierce fire.

Now add the quarter of its bulk of cream sauce to it, and simmer gently for ten minutes.

Dish in a timbale when about to serve, and sprinkle the surface with fresh cream.

2135—ÉPINARDS AU GRATIN

Dry the spinach as above in three oz. of butter per lb., and then, in the same proportion, add two and one-half oz. of grated cheese.

Set on a buttered _gratin_-dish; sprinkle copiously with grated cheese and melted butter, and set the _gratin_ to form in a fierce oven.

2136—ÉPINARDS A LA VIROFLAY

Spread some large leaves of _blanched_ spinach on a napkin, and in the middle of each lay a _subric_, the substance of which should have been combined with very small _croûtons_ of bread-crumb fried in butter. Wrap the _subrics_ in the spinach leaves; cover with Mornay sauce; sprinkle with grated cheese and melted butter, and set to glaze in a fierce oven.

2137—SUBRICS D’ÉPINARDS

Dry the spinach in butter as described above, and add to it per lb. of spinach (away from the fire) one-sixth pint of very reduced Béchamel sauce; two tablespoonfuls of thick cream; one egg and the yolks of three, well beaten; salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Make a sufficient quantity of clarified butter very hot in an omelet-pan.

Take up some of the preparation of spinach by means of a spoon, and let the contents of the latter drop (propelled by the finger) into the butter. Proceed thus in the making of the _subrics_, and take care that they do not touch. When a minute has elapsed, turn them over with a spatula or a fork, that their other sides may colour.

Set on a dish or in a timbale, and serve a cream sauce separately.

2138—CRÊPES AUX ÉPINARDS

Parboil some well-shredded spinach; dry it in butter; season it, and add to it an equal quantity of Yorkshire-pudding paste (No. 1943).

Cook this preparation in a small, well-buttered omelet-pan or in deep tartlet-moulds.

N.B.—These spinach pancakes constitute an excellent garnish for Relevés of Beef, Veal, and Ham.

2139—SOUFFLÉ AUX ÉPINARDS

Make a composition after the directions given under No. 2092. Spread this composition in two or three layers, and set on each of the latter a litter of well-cleaned and soaked anchovy fillets, arranged to form a lattice. Finish with a layer of spinach shaped like a dome, and set thereon two crossed rows of anchovy fillets. Cook after the manner of an ordinary _soufflé_.

2140—SOUFFLÉ AUX ÉPINARDS AUX TRUFFES

Proceed as directed in the preceding recipe, but substitute anchovy fillets for some fine slices of truffle.

N.B.—Both these spinach _soufflés_ may be served either as vegetables, in which case they are moulded in large timbales, or as garnishes, when they are dished in small _cassolettes_ of appropriate size.

They are very delicate preparations, which may be varied by watercress _soufflé_—prepared in the same way.

2141—FEUILLES DE VIGNE FARCIES OU DOLMAS (Stuffed Vine Leaves)

Provided the vine-leaves be very tender, they may serve in the preparation of the following garnish:—Suppress their stalks; parboil the leaves; drain them well, and arrange three or four at a time in the form of a circular tray, in the centre of which lay a tablespoonful of pilaff rice to which some foie-gras purée has been added. This done, draw the ends of the leaves over the rice, so as to enclose it and to form regular balls of equal size.

Put these balls, well-pressed, one against the other in a sautépan, the bottom of which should be garnished with slices of bacon; cover with thin slices of bacon; moisten just enough to cover, with good consommé; boil, and then braise gently.

2142—TUBEROUS FENNEL (Fenouil Tubéreux)

This vegetable is not very well known in England, where it is sold only by the leading merchants of early-season vegetables. It is prepared like the cardoons and the marrows.

2143—BROAD BEANS (Fèves)

Broad beans should be shelled just before being cooked, and it is quite the rule to peel them. Boil them in salted water containing a bunch of savory, the size of which should be in proportion to the quantity of broad beans. When they are cooked and drained, add the leaves of savory (chopped) to them.

2144—FÈVES AU BEURRE

Having well-drained and peeled the broad beans, toss them over a fierce fire to dry them, and then finish them, away from the fire, with three oz. of butter per lb. of beans.

2145—FÈVES A LA CRÈME

After having dried and peeled the broad beans, cohere them (per lb.) with three tablespoonfuls of thick, fresh cream.

2146—PURÉE DE FÈVES

Proceed exactly as for purée of peas. This purée constitutes a very delicate garnish, which is particularly well suited to ham.

2147—GOMBOS

This vegetable—so common in America and the East—is only very rarely used in England, where, however, it is now beginning to be better known.

There are two kinds of Gombos: the long and the round kind. The latter is also called _Bamia_ or _Bamiès_. Both kinds are prepared after the same recipes.

2148—GOMBOS A LA CRÈME

After having trimmed them, parboil them in salted water and drain them. Then cook them in butter, and, just before serving them, cohere them with a cream sauce.

2149—GOMBOS POUR GARNITURES

Parboil the gombos until they are two-thirds cooked. Drain them well, and complete their cooking in the braising-liquor of the piece they are to accompany.

If they are to garnish a poulet _sauté_, complete their cooking in some thin veal gravy.

2150—HOP SPROUTS (Jets de Houblon)

The eatable part is separated from the fibrous by breaking off the ends of the sprouts, as in the case of asparagus or sprew. After having washed them in several waters, cook them in salted water containing, per every quart, the juice of one half-lemon.

Hop sprouts may be prepared with butter, cream, velouté, &c. When served as a vegetable, they are invariably accompanied by poached eggs, which are laid in a crown round them and alternated by comb-shaped _croûtons_ fried in butter.