New Novels The Modern Home
The Cooking of Vegetables
THE winter vegetables which for some weeks still must sufliee us rarely carry the suggestion of delight that a dish of early green peas imparts ; but the fault to a great extent lies with the cook who prepares them and the mistress who has so slight a knowledge - of the resources of the dark months. - Even without the tasteless imported or hot-house beans and asparagus, there is much to choose from ; and there are many ways of treating the most ordinary vegetable which will change it from a wholesome addition to a meat course into a dish worthy of being served as a course by itself. And this is what we should aim at—to make vegetables so good and se desirable that they can be eaten alone, when their distinctive special flavour can be enjoyed undiluted by alien juices. The French habit of serving a vegetable &part is an excellent one, and even the mile palate, so conservative in many ways, might with time and enticement be tempted to regard this innovation as a pleasant one.
Among the vegetables of which we make small use is celeriac, although when-cooked it- is, I think, much better than celery. It is not, however, every greengrocer who sells it at its best. Big spongey roots are worthless : firm small ones should be chosen. Cut off the outer layer, for it is generally stringy. Slice what is left and put it into a saucepan of cold salted water. Bring it to the boil and let the celeriac cook till it is _tender (this should take about half an hour). Then drain it thoroughly and serve it with a_whitte or egg. sauce. Or, better still, cook the celeriac in veal stock. When it is tender, pour off the stock, thicken it slightly and season it well. Pour it back over the celeriac and serve at once. Or put sauce and vegetable into a fireproof dish, sprinkle them with a- little finely grated Gruyere and tiny pieces -of butter and brown in the oven.. Celeriac makes a very good puree. Put the cooked vegetable through a sieve, add a little butter, a tablespoon of cream and seasoning.
-
Curly endives make a delicious purée. Discard any dis- coloured leaves, and cut off the ends of the stalks. Put the leaves into salted boiling water and cook them for ten minutes. Pour away the water and drain the endives on a sieve. Then chop them finely and let them simmer with a little butter, a small lump of sugar and seasoning, for about forty minutes. Keep the pan covered. The puree will be improved by the addition, just -before serving, of a very little cream.' Dr. Muffet in his Health's Improvement, published in 1655, notes that "endive is of good nourishment . . . . not only cooling but also encreasing blood; if it be sodd in white broth till it be tender." It is true that it is very good if cooked in stock instead, of. water. Lettuces may be treated in the same way. To have this purée in perfection, add, just before serving, the lightly, beaten yolk of- an -egg which has been mixed with a little cream. Nothing could be more delicious.
Much can be done to enhance the ordinary winter vegetables. Beetroot, which is rarely .served as a hot vegetable in this country, can be used in the following way. Make a very. smooth, well-seasoned puree of potatoes. Beat it till-it is very light and white. Season it well and 'make a border of' it in a fireproof dish. Fill the centre -with a white sauce. (it must be a good- one) and cooked beetroot cut into dice- shaped pieces. Sprinlde with a little grated Gruyere: and a few tiny pieces .of ,butter, and brown qaickly in
the oven. . -
Brussels sprouts gain in value if, after hailing, they arc finely chopped, well seasoned and mixed, at the very last moment, with a little butter. Sliced'cabbage -which' has been blanched for ten minutes in boiling- water-and then thoroughly disined can be -mixed with a smooth -white sauce. and simmered in a closely covered saucepan for about twenty minutes. If a tablespoon of cream is added to it just before serving, it will be found to be "almost unrecognizably good
and delicate. .
Even the hardened winter carrots and turnips can be transformed into a good Vegetable dish if -- care is taken. Scrape and wash two or three carrots and, removing all of the woody centres, slice the rest. Prepare and slice two or three turnips and one large Spanish onion, or the white part of two leeks. Cook the vegetables in salted boiling water for twenty minutes. Throw away this water and drain the vegetables. Put them into a saucepan with about two ounces of good fresh butter, seasoning and a lump of sugar. Put on the lid and let simmer the contents of the pan as gently as possible for about an hour, and . you will . have a very pleasantly flavoured macedoine to serve with boiled mutton or silverside of beef.
One of the happiest and easiest of patriotic duties -should be to introduce all that is best in-vegetablesfrom abroad. A very small quantity of seed or tubers will procure a stod. from -which -the coming- years may be supplied. An eminent French dietetian recommends the use of pink-fleshed potatoes only, considering them more nourishing than the white varieties. These are common in France, but I have never met with them in this country. The best variety is known as the Saucisse Rouge. " Dutch " potatoes are grown throughout France, and are always, and rightly, recommended for making souffle potatoes, for potato dishes cooked au gratin and for salads. Every kitchen garden should contain a patch of these potatoes, for they are invaluable owing to the firmness of their texture. Market gardeners might note that the foreign restaurants and delikatessen shops in England have difficulty in buying them here. Many. tons of potato salad must be mixed each year in Soho alone, and home- grown potatoes should go to its making. Again, our beet- roots are monotonously of the same variety. I have never tasted one so delicious as a small, very dark coloured and sweet variety I met with in Burgundy. Our French beans, too, lack variety, although the French growers list them by the score. One of the best is the ate/is. It is small, thin and very delicate, far superior to any bean I have tasted in England, except perhaps the ugly little variety known, in the few shops where it may be obtained in London, as " nigger " bean. This withered-looking, spotted bean (haricot marbre nain) yields as late as November, and is full of flavour and very succulent.
Mr. Robinson. in his admirable Vegetable Garden, adapted from the French of MM. Vilmorin.Andrieux, mentions a Jerusalem artichoke, almost smooth in contour, grown from seed found in Corsica. What trouble and waste it would save ! There is also tetragone, an excellent summer substitute for. spinach, which was brought. from New Zealand in the early eighteenth century. It remains green and luxuriant under the hottest sun.
Those who have kitchen gardens and are interested in trying little-known vegetables might revive the skirret, which was so much in favour in the seventeenth century—" cor- roborating and good for the stomach, exceedingly nourishing, wholesome and delicate." The skirret is a sweet and tender root and is in season from September to March. It should be cooked in milk and water. The liquid, slightly thickened and with the addition of a little butter and cream, will make the necessary sauce to serve with it.
ELIZABETH LUCAS.
Previous page
