My best 250 recipes

Wash half a cupful of rice, throw it into a quart of boiling water and boil rapidly for ten minutes ; drain. Put it in a double boiler with one quart of milk, half a cupful of finely chopped celery and a bay leaf; cover and cook slowly for thirty minutes. While this is cooking cut a good-sized onion into slices, put it with two tablespoonfuls of olive oil or butter in a shallow frying-pan ; cook slowly until the onion is tender, but not brown; add this to the mixture in the farinaboiler ; press the whole through a colander, return to the double boiler; add hastily a tablespoonful of butter ; press through a fine sieve, and serve. CREAM OF SPINACH Cut the leaves from two quarts of spinach, wash them thoroughly and throw them in a per- 14 My Best 250 Recipes fectly dry soup-kettle; stand the kettle over the fire and stir constantly for fifteen minutes until the spinach is wilted and cooked. Drain, saving the water. Chop the spinach very fine, then press it through a puree-sieve ; add it to the water and a small onion grated ; put this with a quart of milk in a double boiler. Rub a rounding tablespoonful of butter and two of flour together, add them to the milk, stir until smooth ; add a level teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper, and if you have it, half a teaspoonful of beef extract that has been dissolved in a little of the soup. Strain at once into a tureen, and serve with croutons or breadsticks. PUREE OF CHESTNUTS Shell and blanch a pint of chestnuts; cover them with a quart of boiling water ; add a slice of onion, a little chopped celery, a bay leaf and half a teaspoonful of paprika. Boil gently for thirty minutes. Press through a colander, add a pint of chicken stock and a pint of milk. Allow this to come slowly to the boiling point. Rub together two rounding tablespoonfuls of butter and one of flour; stir this into the soup carefully until you have a perfectly smooth mixture. Add a level teaspoonful of salt. Strain through a fine sieve, reheat, and serve with croutons. My Best 250 Recipes 15 PEANUT SOUP Put a quart of milk in a double boiler; add half a pint of peanut butter, a small onion grated, half a cupful of finely chopped celery and a dash of white pepper ; cover and cook slowly for twenty minutes. Moisten a level tablespoonful of cornstarch in a little cold milk; add to the hot soup, stir until smooth and thick. Strain into a hot tureen, add a teaspoonful of paprika, and serve. RECIPES FOR FISH Select perfectly fresh fish, with firm flesh, bright eyes and gills, and those in full season. Results are always more satisfactory where one kind of fish is not substituted for another in a given recipe. For instance, do not use canned salmon if fresh salmon is called for in the recipe, and expect good results. Nor should haddock be substituted for rock; the flesh is very different both in texture and flavor. Serve potatoes with fish and, when in season, cucumbers, or lettuce with French dressing. SALT MACKEREL Wash the fish, soak it overnight skin side up. Next morning dry, put it in a wire broiler, and broil, flesh side down, until a golden brown. Turn and broil the skin side quickly. Put on a heated platter, spread with butter that has been rubbed with an equal quantity of lemon juice, and serve. CREAMED CODFISH Pick apart half a pound of salt codfish, wash it thoroughly in two waters, soak it overnight in 1 8 My Best 250 Recipes cold water. Next morning drain, cover with boiling water, and cook below the boiling point for five minutes. Drain and press. Rub one tablespoooful of butter and one of flour together, add half a pint of milk, stir until boiling; add a dash of pepper and the codfish; cover and stand over hot water for ten minutes. Add the beaten yolk of an egg, a quarter of a teaspoonful of pepper, and serve with plain boiled potatoes. PLANKED FISH