How to cook vegetables

4 heads of celery, 6 small onions, i tablespoonful cream, white sauce, i tablespoonful chopped parsley, vegetable sauce, pepper. Trim and wash the celery, cut it into pieces about 4 in. long, and wash and blanch these in boiling water. Blanch also the peeled onions ; place both in a stew-pan, cover with stock, and cook till tender. Arrange the celery on pieces of toasted bread on a dish, garnish with the boiled onions, reduce the stock to a glaze, add an equal quantity of white sauce, the parsley, cream, and seasoning to taste, including a pinch of sugar. Dish up and serve. Braised Celery au Jus. Prepare half a dozen heads of celery and trim the best part. Cut into pieces about 6 in. long, wash in several waters, and well brush. Blanch for 5 minutes, refresh and drain. Place the celery in a braising pan, with a bouquet-garni, 2 peeled onions, salt, and stock. Cover with slices of bacon, let braise slowly until perfectly cooked, then drain the celery, and keep hot. Reduce the stock with some rich gravy, skim well, and pour over the celery after it is dished up. Braised Celery a la Bechamel. Braise the celery as directed for Celery au jus, and when cooked make a white sauce with celery stock and cream. Add to the sauce a little finely-chopped parsley, pour this over the celery when it is dressed on a dish. Celery Cream Soup. 3 heads of celery, 4 oz. butter, 3 oz. flour, 2 quarts fish stock, 1 pint milk, \ pint cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, £ teaspoonful castor sugar, fried bread croutons. Trim the celery, pare off the green parts, and wash thoroughly. Cut it into small pieces, and blanch in slightly salted water. Drain well, and return to the stew-pan with 3 oz. butter. Cook for a few minutes over a brisk fire without allowing it to burn ; moisten with a little stock, add salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste, cover, and let simmer slowly for 30 minutes. Mix the flour with the remainder of the butter in another stew-pan ; cook a little without browning, dilute with the milk, and add the stock and partly-cooked celery. Let it simmer till the celery is tender, then pass the whole through a fine sieve. Boil up again, skim, add the sugar and more seasoning if needed, and, lastly, add the cream. Reheat, without allowing it to boil. Pour into a soup tureen, and serve the bread croutons separately on a plate. Celery a la Villeroy. Prepare and cook the celery as directed for Braised Celery au jus, drain it on a cloth, and let it get cold. Coat each piece of celery with well-reduced Villeroy sauce. Place the masked celery on a sieve or tray, and let it get quite cold. Then roll in some fresh breadcrumbs ; next dip in beaten egg, and crumb again in fresh breadcrumbs. Then fry in very hot fat to a nice golden colour. Drain, and serve on a dish garnished with fried parsley. Celery Salad with Truffles. Cut a root of very tender celery into coarse julienne strips and the same amount of truffles which have been stewed for 5 minutes in Madeira. Season, and allow to steep for 20 minutes. Rub a bowl with a clove of garlic, and put into it the yolk of 4 hard-boiled eggs passed through a sieve. Beat them up with a wooden spoon, adding a spoonful of tarragon mustard, oil, vinegar, and chopped chervil and chives. Mix the celery and the truffles with this sauce, and serve in a salad bowl. Celery and Nut Salad.