LUNCH DISHES

Meagre Vol-au-vent (173)
Housewife Snails (162)
Asparagus Hollandaise (165)
Wild Rabbit with Mushrooms (174)
Breton White Beans (175)
Rum Jelly (142)

DINNER DISHES

Cardinal Soup (135)
Belgian Eggs (38)
Creamy Cucumbers (176)
Périgueux-Style Mutton Fillet (177)
Indian-Style Tomatoes (178)
Surprise Desserts (56)

173. Meagre Vol-au-vent.
A vol-au-vent crust, 50 grams of butter, a tablespoon of flour, hot milk, a spoonful of finely chopped parsley, salt, pepper, four hard-boiled eggs, a few white mushrooms, a few crayfish,
Make a vol-au-vent crust or order some from the pastry chef. Place 50 grams of butter in a saucepan, dissolve a generous tablespoon of flour in it, stir over the heat for a few minutes without letting it brown; gradually moisten with hot milk, add a teaspoon of very finely chopped parsley, salt, and pepper. This béchamelle should not be thick. Hard-boil some eggs, cut them into fairly thin slices; add them to the béchamelle, stir gently so as not to break the eggs, then garnish the vol-au-vent, cover, and serve immediately. For a very presentable dish, you can add a few slices of white mushrooms to the sauce; to make it even better, some pretty crayfish cooked in court-bouillon... And since life is always expensive, you can remove the crust from the vol-au-vent and serve it in a porcelain dish.

174. Wild Rabbit with Mushrooms.
One young rabbit, 125 grams of lean breast bacon, 150 grams of fresh mushrooms, one onion, four shallots, a pinch of garlic, a sprig of thyme, half a bay leaf, one deciliter of good cognac, two and a half deciliters of white wine, 60 grams of butter, a teaspoon of chopped parsley.
Skin and gut the rabbit. Cut it up and set the liver aside. Cut the bacon into small squares and blanch it for five minutes. Drain. Peel the mushrooms and place them in lightly vinegared water. Chop the onion, shallot, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Heat half the butter in a casserole dish and brown the bacon. Remove the bacon and brown the rabbit pieces. After five minutes, add the onion, shallot, and all the chopped ingredients. After two or three minutes, deglaze with the cognac; then add the white wine, bacon, and sliced mushrooms. Bring to a boil, then place in the oven for fifteen minutes. The sauce should reduce by half. A few minutes before serving, add the chopped liver, then, off the heat, thicken with the remaining butter.

175. White beans, Breton style.

One liter of white beans, two liters of water, 20 grams of salt, one medium onion, one bunch of parsley, 15 grams of flour, and 60 grams of butter.
Place the beans in a saucepan with cold water, salt, a bunch of parsley, and the onion. Bring to a boil and let the white beans boil, three-quarters covered. For fresh beans, boil for one hour. Combine 30 grams of butter and the flour over low heat; cook for a few minutes and add about a quarter liter of the bean cooking liquid. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat to simmer until ready to serve. Add the drained beans to the sauce and thicken, off the heat, with the remaining divided butter.

176. Creamed Cucumbers
Three medium cucumbers, 60 grams of butter, 30 grams of flour, half a liter of milk, two tablespoons of cream, one tablespoon of chopped onion, one tablespoon of chopped parsley, salt, and pepper.
Scrape the cucumbers and dry them with a cloth. Add them to boiling water and cook for ten minutes.
Mix the flour with 30 grams of butter over low heat for five minutes, without letting it brown. Add the milk, bring to a boil, season with salt and pepper, and remove from heat. Drain the cucumbers and cut them into one-centimeter-thick slices. Chop the onion and sauté it for three or four minutes in the remaining butter. Add the cucumber slices and sauté for five minutes. Add the cucumber sauce, stir, and simmer on the stovetop until ready to serve. Add the cream, heat without boiling, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve. If you don't have cream, thicken the sauce with an egg yolk.

177. Mutton Fillets Périgueux Style.
Mutton fillets, bacon, salt, pepper, white wine, truffle trimmings, butter, three spoonfuls of demi-glace, one spoonful of Madeira, and a few truffles.
Take and trim some mutton fillets, stud them with thin pieces of bacon. Marinate them for twenty-four hours with salt, pepper, white wine, and truffle trimmings. One hour before serving, drain and let them dry in a cloth.
Melt butter in a sauté pan, place the fillets in the pan, and brown them. When they have browned nicely on each side, coat them with two or three spoonfuls of demi-glace and a spoonful of Madeira; add a few truffles cut into very thin strips, and cook for a few minutes. Once cooked, remove and arrange the fillets on a warm platter. Pour the truffles and sauce over the center, then serve with Périgueux sauce on the side in a sauceboat.

178. Indian-Style Tomatoes
500 grams of tomatoes, a bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a bay leaf, 60 grams of butter, 250 grams of rice, breadcrumbs.
Add the rice to boiling salted water and cook over high heat for 25 minutes. Peel the tomatoes, remove the water, and discard the seeds.
Place the pulp in a saucepan with 30 grams of butter, salt, pepper, and a bouquet garni. Cover and cook very gently for 10 minutes. Drain the rice and spread a layer of it in a well-buttered gratin dish. Add a layer of softened tomatoes on top, removing the bouquet. Add another layer of rice, another layer of tomatoes, and season each layer with salt and pepper. Cover with breadcrumbs, then add the remaining butter and bake in the oven for half an hour.

THE HEARTH CRICKET.

A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING
Ice cream.

The smooth cream has a distinctive aroma, and fruit juices and syrups are always the basis of these compositions.
They are frozen by subjecting them to a mixture of crushed ice and coarse salt, which produces a temperature several degrees below zero.

Pistachio Ice Cream - Peel half a pound of pistachios and grind them as finely as possible, with a little cream and the zest of a lemon. Once the pistachios have softened, place them in a saucepan with six egg yolks and half a pound of powdered sugar. Mix well, then add one liter of cream. Cook in a bain-marie, strain through a cheesecloth, and let cool, after adding two spoonfuls of spinach juice to color this ice cream pistachio green.

Chocolate Ice Cream - Mix six egg yolks with one liter of cream and half a pound of powdered sugar. Cook in a bain-marie. Meanwhile, melt half a pound of chocolate in a glass of water. When it is thoroughly melted, mix it with the cream, strain through a cheesecloth, and ice as usual.

Strawberry Ice Cream - Choose the ripest and most fragrant strawberries; Pass them through a fine sieve to separate the grains. For each pound of pulp, add one pound of syrup and the juice of two red oranges.

Gooseberry Ice Cream - Deseed two pounds of gooseberries and add a quarter of a raspberry. Place everything in a saucepan with half a pound of sugar, and bring to a boil, covered. Then pour over a cloth and squeeze. Add one pound of syrup to the squeezed juice. Proceed as for the other ice creams.

Apricot Ice Cream - Take ripe, open-air apricots and pulp them through a sieve. Add, for each pound of sugar, one pound of syrup. Grind a dozen almonds and kernels, and infuse them with a little water and the juice of two lemons; strain this infusion and add it to the pulp. Otherwise, proceed as usual.

Lemon Ice Cream - Infuse the zest of two lemons into a pound of smooth-cooked syrup. The syrup should be hot. Squeeze the juice of six lemons and add it to the syrup. If it is too sweet, add a sufficient amount of distilled water.