How to cook vegetables

Take 6 firm, ripe, even-sized tomatoes, cut off the tops ; scoop out the insides, rub the pulp through a fine wire sieve ; with this prepare the stuffing, adding 2 oz. of fresh butter, 3 tablespoonsful of fine white breadcrumbs, 6 finely-chopped preserved mushrooms, and a little chopped parsley or chives. Season with salt and pepper. Stir the mixture over the fire until warm through, then bind with 2 yolks of eggs and a little cream. Fill the tomatoes with the stuffing thus prepared. Place them side by side in a well-buttered saute-pan. Strew over some breadcrumbs, and bake them in a brisk oven for about 15 minutes. Dish up, sauce round with Piquante sauce, and serve. Baked Tomatoes a I’Anglaise. Cut 6 tomatoes into halves, season them with pepper and salt. Place them in a buttered baking tin, sprinkle breadcrumbs over them, put small pieces of butter here and there on them. Bake in a hot oven for about 20 minutes. Dish up, and serve. Tomatoes a la Reforme. Cut some bacon, cooked ham, tongue, hard-boiled egg, and truffles, into fine strips about an inch long. Take some ripe, firm, and even-sized tomatoes, remove the stalks, and insert the strips of bacon. Place them side by side in a buttered saute-pan, bake in a moderate oven till brown. Dish up in the form of a border, and put the strips of truffles, ham, and eggs in the centre, reheat, and sauce over with Poivrade sauce. Tomatoes a I’Americaine. Select 8 even-sized ripe but firm tomatoes, hollow out as much as possible of the soft centre portion of each, remove the seeds, and mix the pulp with an equal quantity of stiff mayonnaise. To this add finely-chopped white celery and ripe pineapple in equal parts. Fill the tomatoes with this mixture, and place them in the ice-box for at least two hours. To serve, put each tomato on a lettuce leaf, dress neatly on a round dish, and garnish with a border composed of small cress or watercress and small radishes. Tomatoes with Walnuts. 6 ripe tomatoes, 1 oz. of butter, 2 shallots, 2 oz. of peeled and chopped walnuts, 1 dessertspoonful of chopped parsley, 1 oz. of breadcrumbs, 1 oz. of grated cheese, 2 eggs, seasoning, and hot buttered toast. Scald the tomatoes in boiling water, remove the skin, and place them in a buttered saute-pan, and bake, then rub them through a wire sieve. Fry the finely-chopped shallots in the butter, add the walnuts, parsley, tomato puree, the breadcrumbs, and the cheese. Stir over a quick fire, and season with salt, pepper, and kroma or cayenne. Add the eggs, well beaten, to the mixture, and stir over the fire till set. Spread this on rounds of hot buttered toast, sprinkle over with grated cheese, dish up, and serve hot. Tomato Pillau. Slice x or 2 small onions, and fry them in a stewpan to a golden brown in 2 oz. of butter. Add 1 pint of tomato puree and 1 pint of vegetable stock. Season with salt and pepper, and bring to the boil. Skim, and add ^ lb. of well- washed rice, and cook gently until the liquor is almost absorbed. Melt 2 oz. of fresh butter in a stew-pan, when hot add the rice, and stir over the fire for a few minutes. Cover the pan, and place it on the stove for about 15 minutes. Dish up and serve hot. Tomatoes with Cheese.