The girl's own cookery book

French beans or haricots verts, as they are usually called, are when young most excellent served alone. They should be stringed but not cut up, boiled till quite tender, drained, then put into the stewpan, be sprinkled lightly with pepper, salt, and very little flour, then tossed over the fire for ten minutes, with not less than two ounces of butter to each pound of beans. Peas may be treated in the same way. A little sugar may be substituted for the flour with them. Both peas and beans are best when young and freshly gathered. These vegetables are as nourishing as meat. Cauliflower is excellent prepared as follows : Boil a large cauliflower in the usual way. Drain it thoroughly, cut away the stalks, and put it on a dish. Melt half-anounce of butter in a small saucepan, mix an ounce of flour smoothly with it, and add a gill of cold water. Stir the sauce till it boils, then add half-a-gill of cream, a little pepper, salt, and cayenne, and one ounce of grated G The Girl's Own Cookery Book. Parmesan cheese. Lay the sauce over the cauliflower with a spoon, make it smooth, and sprinkle another ounce of cheese over the top. Brown before the fire, and serve hot. The remains of dressed cauliflower can be used for this dish. People who like tomatoes are sure to enjoy them stuffed. To prepare these, make a little savoury forcemeat with whatever materials may be at hand, and flavour it, if possible, with mushrooms and lightly with shalot. Take a thin slice from the stalk end of some ripe but firm tomatoes, which should be of moderate and equal size, and scoop out from the centre the seeds and the watery part. Put in the forcemeat, and sprinkle brown raspings over the top. Place the tomatoes side by side in a deep dish which has a cover, and into which oil has been poured to the depth of a quarter of an inch. Place the cover over the tomatoes, and bake them in a sharp oven till they are cooked through. They should be basted every now and then. They will take about twenty minutes or more, according to their size and ripeness. They should be quickly cooked, however, and the forcemeat with which they are filled should be cooked before it is used. If more convenient the stuffed tomatoes may be simply baked. A little brown sauce may be served with them. Tiiere are one or two fancy ways of frying potatoes which are always appreciated. I should like to speak of these before closing. First, fried potatoes. Take some large kidney potatoes, cut them into plugs about two inches long and half-an-inch thick ; wash them and let them lie in water till wanted, and before cooking them drain them in a clean napkin to absorb the moisture. Have ready an iron stewpan half full of boiling fat. Put the potatoes into the frying basket, plunge these into the fat, draw the pan back a little, shake the basket now and again, and let the potatoes remain for about five minutes. By this time the lat will have gone off the boil. Take the potatoes out of the fat, therefore, and heat the fat again. When it boils once more put the potatoes in again, let them remain a minute or two and they are done. They should be salted, drained on kitchen paper, and served at once. How to Cook Fish. S3