The art of cooking

When the eggs are done remove the spinach from its saucepan and pile it high in the centre of a vegetable dish, smoothing the edges around and the top with a knife blade. Take the eggs from the water with a skimming spoon, and arrange them upon the fiat top of the spinach. This dish should be garnished for serving with corners of fried bread or toast. [illustration: TOMATO FARCI] Note. — If lemon-juice is not convenient, a few drops of vinegar may be used for poaching the eggs, but the flavor of it will always be detected although it firms the egg quite as well as the lemon-juice which leaves no taste of itself with the egg. Cauliflower au Gratin. — Provide for this : one cauliflower, one ounce of butter, one ounce of flour, one gill of cold water, two tablespoonfuls of cream, three ounces of grated Parmesan cheese, one grain of cayenne, one saltspoonful of white pepper, one tablespoonful of salt. A close firm head of cauliflower must be selected for this preparation and this must be first thrown into a basin of strongly salted water and left for twenty minutes in TOMA TO FARCL order that sand, grit or other foreign substances may be drawn out. Trim off the green leaves and cut the stalk squarely across about two inches below the flower, after which prepare a large saucepan by putting it over the fire, filling it two-thirds full of boiling water with a tablespoonful of salt. Into this saucepan put the cauliflower, the flower downwards and covering it until the water boils up vigorously, when removing the saucepan cover, all should be allowed to boil rapidly for fifteen minutes. At the end of this time take the cauliflower from the water and placing it upon a gratin plate with the flower uppermost, wrap over it thickly but lightly a clean towel both to keep it hot and to absorb such moisture as may have remained in the top. Melt in a small saucepan the butter into which stir the flour, and add by degrees the cold water. When this boils take it from the fire, add to it the cream and two ounces of the grated cheese. Season all with the cayenne and pepper, and removing the towel from the cauliflower pour this sauce over it. Sprinkle over the flower the remaining ounce of cheese and place all into a quick oven where the cheese upon the top must be allowed nicely to brown. Serve immediately. Notes. — If Parmesan cheese cannot be obtained, any strong, old cheese that is dry enough to grate, may be used instead. In boiling aU vegetables and cereals the more rapidly the water boils the more satisfactory will be the result. If a gratin- plate is not available, the cauliflower must be put upon a plate that will stand the heat of the oven and in serving, a napkin may be laid under and prettily folded around to conceal the plate, if unsightly. Tomato Farci. — Provide for this: one quart of fresh tomatoes, two Spanish onions, four tablespoonfuls of bread crumbs, three ounces of butter, one-half teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of pepper. The onions must have been put into boiling water and soaked over night, and when required for the preparation, they should be dried in a towel and then sliced, making the slices about a third of an inch thick. Melt in a frying-pan an ounce of the butter, and when hot, brown on both sides in it the onion slices. Slice the tomatoes and arrange a layer of them in the bottom of a vegetable dish, and over this put a layer of the browned onion. Sprinkle over this a little of tlie bread crumbs, season with the pepper and salt, and with these alternating layers proceed to fill the vegetable dish, leaving a top covering of the bread crumbs. When the dish is filled, distribute the butter in small pieces over the top, and place all in a moderate oven to bake for three-quarters of an hour.