The European cookbook for American homes (from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France)

(or just water in which has been dissolved a teaspoon of beef extract); sprinkle with salt and white pepper, and simmer. The blossoms retain their vivid golden color and make a decorative garnishing for a meat or vegetable dish. They beautifully frame a platter of heaped fresh green peas, and delight the heart of the amateur gardener, who will cease to bemoan the fact that every bloom on the vine is not a promise of a Halloween pumpkin. Provence VEGETABLE RAGOUT (Melange de Legumes) 3 young carrots, diced i large tomato, peeled 2 cups meat broth i large onion, sliced 6 scallions i garlic clove, minced i small zucchini (or tgg plant) 2 tablespoons olive oil Salt and pepper i green pepper, sliced Drop carrots into boiling broth, add scallions with portion of green left on. Cut zucchini (Italian green squash resembling cucumber) into Y2 inch slices, and add. Season. Set tomato in center of stewing vegetables whole. Fry onion and garlic in oil until golden, add % cup cold water and simmer. Add green pepper to vegetables. Pour over them the liquid from onion and garlic and discard these. Simmer for a moment. Serve on a hot platter. Vegetables except tomato should be unbroken. Provence PANISSES Panisses f rites, (fried), are a boon to the hurried housewife in Provence, and housewives are hurried on occasion, even in that easy-going land of poetry where it is nothing to bestow 6 hours of loving care on a dish of braised meat; or keep the fire going all night in order to produce that rival to tripes a la mode de Caen, the pieds et paquets a la Marseilles. This consists of mutton tripe used as wrappers for a delectable stuffing, and cooked in white wine and stock with sheeps' trotters, beef shin, veal, and vegetables in a covered earthen crock sealed air-tight with flour paste. Panisses can be bought, ready to fry, usually at the cheese shop, in many Provencal towns, and are handy when unexpected guests arrive. They measure about 3 inches, square or round, are l/2 inch thick, and yellow. The best are made of a thick puree of chick peas cooked in stock further thickened with flour, cooled, and then cut in slices and formed between the hands. The panisses are dredged with flour and fried in butter. An American substitute may be made by pressing canned chick peas through a sieve with 1 tablespoon flour, with enough of the chick pea liquor to permit the mixture being heated until the flour is cooked. A proper panisse, however, according to old Provencal cooks, should be stirred only with a paddle made of laurel wood, for both luck and flavor. Provence AIOLI 8 garlic cloves i}4 cups olive oil 1 egg yolk Juice l/2 lemon Ya teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon tepid water Grind garlic cloves to a paste; add egg yolk and blend; add salt and a few drops of oil and blend, adding oil until 4 tablespoons have been used. Then add lemon juice a little at a time and beat; add water and continue beating. Then slowly add the rest of the oil, proceeding as with mayonnaise. For the garlic-lover this is a delicious sauce, and the "Aioli Garni" or "grand aioli" with which it is sometimes served is a complete and beautiful repast. Almost anything in the kitchen may appear on a platter of "grand aioli" — hard-boiled eggs,