How to cook vegetables

Prepare the artichoke bottoms as in the preceding recipe. Boil them in salted water seasoned with vinegar, drain them and let them cool. This dish is best if the artichokes are small. Prepare a well-reduced Villeroi sauce and blend it with 4 yolks of eggs. Dip each artichoke bottom into this, and then set them on a tray to allow them to get quite cold. When the sauce is firm roll each bottom separately in breadcrumbs, then dip it into wellbeaten eggs, crumb it once more, using the blade of a knife to spread the breadcrumbs on it. Just before serving plunge the artichokes into very hot fat and keep them constantly moving while frying. Take them out as soon as they are a nice brown colour ; drain well and sprinkle with salt. Place them in circular form on a napkin, and garnish the centre of the dish with parsley. Fritters of Artichoke Bottoms. Take the bottoms of 6 or more medium-sized artichokes and prepare them as in the former recipe. When cooked drain them carefully on a napkin, then spread them out on a dish containing olive oil and a few slices of onion. Season with salt, pepper, and a small pinch of mixed spices. Let them lie in this pickle for an hour, then let them drain. Remove the centre from each artichoke with an apple corer, then dip into frying batter and plunge into a very hot frying fat. As soon as the fritters assume a nice golden colour, take them out and drain them on a wire sieve ; then arrange them on a dish on a napkin. Serve with tomato sauce. Salad of Artichoke Bottoms. The artichoke bottoms are first boiled, trimmed neatly, and then allowed to cool. They are next divided into quarters and put into a salad bowl with a few fresh truffles cut into thin slices. Make a well- seasoned and rather thin mayonnaise and mix with it a little chopped chervil and a few tarragon leaves. Pour this dressing on the artichokes and truffles, mix as you do ordinary salad, using a wooden spoon and fork, and serve. Artichoke Bottoms a la Polonaise. Trim the artichoke bottoms and blanch them. Lay them in a saute pan containing hot oil and clarified butter, and season them. Start them over a brisk fire, and then put the pan into the oven. In ten minutes turn them to colour the other side. When well cooked through, let them drain, then arrange in a circle on a hot dish, and sprinkle them with breadcrumbs fried in butter just before serving. Jerusalem Artichoke (Topinamboun). This plant is a native of Brazil, and of the same natural and very pleasant order as the common sunflower. It is cultivated largely in this country. The plant has large, rough leaves, and yellow flowers. The roots are creeping and produce in autumn several round, yellowish or reddish tubers, which are now largely used for soup and as a vegetable. The name Jerusalem is a corruption of the Italian Girasolc (sunflower). In flavour this artichoke has a marked resemblance to the green or globe artichoke. Potage Palestine, which we often see on menus, is a favourite soup, of which this tuber furnishes the chief ingredient, JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES. and on this account the soup designated is named “ Palestine.” Jerusalem Artichokes. Jerusalem Artichoke or Palestine Soup.