The "Queen" cookery books: Vegetables

cutting the green off close to the white, and trimming them neatly. Tie them up into small bundles, and blanch them in salted water, draining this off, and finishing their cooking in more absolutely boiling acidulated and salted water, drain them well, and serve with melted or oiled butter, or any white sauce handed separately. They may also, after blanching, be finished off either in milk or stock, to which you add a bouquet, but be careful to keep them as white as possible, as this is a great point about leeks. They may also, when blanched, be cut up and put in a saucepan with a large pat of butter, a dust of flour, pepper and salt to taste, and just sufficient milk or stock to moisten them, and allowed to simmer till done. Work into them just as you serve them either a spoonful or two of rich cream, or the yolk of an egg beaten up with the juice of a lemon. Leehs, stewed. — Trim and boil the leeks in acidulated salted water till three-parts cooked, then place them in a pan with a good pat of butter, half a pint of cream or new milk, and a teaspoonful each of caster sugar and flour strewed over all. Stir it over the fire till the sauce is reduced and thickened, adding just at the last the yolks of one or two eggs mixed with a spoonful or so of cream, and serve on a hot vegetable dish. If after boiling till tender, the leeks are sieved, finished off with the butter, cream, &c., as above, and served with fried croutons, or cheese pastry fleurons, they make an extremely nice puree. Cold cooked leeks are also very good if finished off au gratin, or served with a French oil and vinegar salad dressing ; whilst the following makes an extremely pretty fancy salad : Cut the leeks into neat, even pieces; dip a large tomato for a minute into boiling water, remove the peel, and when it is cold and firm, slice it. Break up a well-washed lettuce into small pieces, arrange these on a glass dish, then lay on it the sliced tomato and the leeks alternately, season with a vinaigrette, or mayonnaise sauce, sprinkle with minced tarragon and chives, and serve garnished with filleted anchovies, picked shrimps, or prawns, olives, &c., as you please. Small tomatoes seeded and the flesh well pressed back with a spoon, then filled with the prawns, &c., form a very pretty garnish for this dish. Leeks are specially good in soups, as they impart a richness and a velvety substance given by no other vegetable ; whilst if three parts cooked in boiling salted water, dried, and cut into julienne strips, and finished ofl in either milk or stock, with a dust of caster sugar, they make a very effective garnish. Lentils {Lentilles.) — Lentils do not generally meet with the appreciation their nutritious and palatable qualities deserve, though many people will admit the value of the well-known Revalenta Arabica, which is, did they but know it, simply a preparation of lentil flour mixed with a certain proportion of fine barley or wheat flour. a la maitre d'hotel. — Well wash a pint of lentils in plenty of cold water, then put them on in a pan of cold water with an onion stuck with three or four cloves, a blade of mace, and a bayleaf, and boil them till tender, adding a little more cold water occasionally as that in the pan evaporates. When quite