The "Queen" cookery books: Vegetables

Lettuce a la creme. — Well wash three or four good-sized cabbage lettuces, trim them, and remove all faded or discoloured leaves, and blanch them for eight or ten minutes in fast boiling water ; then rinse in cold water, dry them well, and cut them in quarters or eight parts, according to size ; now lay them in a clean pan with 2oz. of butter, a dust each of white pepper and salt, and a tiny pinch of caster sugar ; let this all simmer together very gently at the side of the stove for two to three hours, stirring it pretty often with a delicately clean wooden spoon. When they are quite tender stir in the yolks of two eggs beaten up with rather more than half a gill of good cream or new milk, and when this is quite hot (mind it does not boil) serve on a hot dish, garnished with fleurons of puff paste. Cos lettuce may be cooked in the same way, but take rather less time. stewed. — Trim, blanch, rinse, and dry them as before, put either some slices of fat bacon or 2oz. of well-clarified dripping in a pan, lay the lettuces (halved) on this with an onion, and some sprays of parsley, and pour in sufficient unskimmed stock to cover it all, lay a buttered paper on top, and simmer it for two hours till the liquor is reduced to a glaze ; then lift out the lettuces on to a hot dish, skim all of the liquid very carefully, add it to some nice brown sauce, pour this over them, and serve. If liked, after blanching and drying the lettuces, some nice forcemeat of any kind may be introduced between the leaves, the whole tied neatly into shape, and finished off as in the preceding recipe. Lettuces are nice if minced rather finely after blanching and drying, and cooked as in L. à la crème, only allowing a good dust of Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of coralline pepper to each lettuce. Cooked in this way, any lettuce left over may be placed in a well-buttered fireproof dish, moistened with a little ■cream, strewn with grated breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese, with a few morsels of butter over it, •and set in the oven till nicely browned. Marjoram {Marjolaine). — This herb is much used for flavouring forcemeats, soups, &c., being reckoned ■especially good seasoning for sausages. The kind most used is that known as “ knotted ” or “ sweet marjoram.” Mint (Menthe). — This herb is used both fresh and dry in cookery, the kind preferred for culinary purposes being the spear mint. A spray of mint is put with young green peas when they are to be boiled, and also by some people with new potatoes ; but, as a rule, fresh mint is chiefly used for mint sauce made thus : Chop enough fresh and well washed mint to fill a quarter of a -pint measure, then mix with it a gill of good vinegar, half a gill •of cold water, and l^oz. of caster sugar, let it stand for a little, then serve with roast lamb, &c. The success of this sauce depends on the fineness with which the mint is minced, and the allowing it to stand for at least two hours before using it. Morels {Morilles). — A kind of spongy-looking mushroom, which grows in some parts of England, but is more often procured in a dried condition from the Italian warehouses. It is chiefly used for flavouring sauces, but can be served fresh by any recipe given for mushrooms. As, however, the flavour of the morel is far more delicate than that of the mushroom, seasoning must be carefully used.