Fifty dinners

Filets de maquereau, sauce raifort. Ragodt de mouton la Dugl6r6. Artichauts au beurre. Salade de fraises. Croûtes à la moelle. Of summer vegetable purees none is nicer than puree de pois verts, and of the various ways of making it the best — in so far as flavour is concerned — is that in which the simple cuisson of the Green-pea soup without peas supplies the foundation. Choose young peas — it is a mistake to reserve old ones for this soup — and, having shelled enough of them to fill a pint measure to the brim, slice up the pods, wash them and put them into a stewpan with one average-sized lettuce shredded, four ounces of onion, a bouquet, and a good bunch of parsley, with seasoning. Cover with fresh milk, boil up slowly, and then simmer until the pods are soft. Drain off the cuisson, pick out the bouquet and parsley, and press as much as you can of the rest through a hair sieve, saving the pulp. Now put the shelled peas into another stewpan, pour the cuisson over them, boil, and when the peas are soft drain them, pass them also through the sieve, and add the puree thus obtained to that got from the pods. Next proceed to blend the puree and cuisson for which a small quantity of liaison is necessary — otherwise the pulp might sink to the bottom of each basin, the thin broth remaining on the surface. This can be done with a roiix made in a stewpan over a low fire with half an ounce of butter and half an ounce of flour, the puree and cuisson being added and worked into it by degrees till both are expended. The picree, now completed, may be finished in any of the three ways mentioned for the shrimp puree. A good colour is secured by boiling a handful of fresh spinach-leaves with the peas and passing them with the latter through the sieve. Liaison is sometimes effected with rice or tapioca, while cornflour or ground rice will also effect the object. A medium-sized mackerel will be enough for this. Take off the fillets on each side, remove the skin, divide each side fillet in half, thus forming fillets, and set these in a marinade radish same, composed of two tablespoonfuls of salad oil, the juice of a lemon, and a dessert-spoonful of finely minced fennel, with a seasoning of pepper and salt. Let them lie in this for half an hour at least, turning them now and then till cooking time is at hand. Now take out the fillets, dry them on a cloth carefully, dip them in frying batter (see Menu xiv.), and fry them till of a nice golden colour in a deep bath of very hot fat. Then drain, dry, and serve the pieces on a hot napkin, garnished with fried parsley and quarters of lemon. The sauce should be made in this way : — Having prepared a broth with the bones, but not the skin of the mackerel, three gills being enough, put it into a small stewpan, and stir into it DUGLtRi^S MUTTON RAGOUT. two tablespoonfuls of finely grated horseradish and a seasoning of salt and pepper. Boil up, simmer for fifteen minutes, stir in through a pointed strainer a dessert-spoonful of flour mixed with a coffeecupful of milk, boil, take off the fire, add a teaspoonful of tarragon vinegar, and one of made mustard, pass through a hair sieve, warm up, and finish with a dessertspoonful of freshly grated horseradish and the yolk of a raw egg.