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

SHRIMP SOUP {Sopa de Camarao) 1 pound shrimp 1 small onion, chopped iYz quarts boiling water x/i garlic clove, minced Salt 6 sorrel leaves, chopped l/s teaspoon pepper (optional) 3 tablespoons butter l/i cup tomato juice 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon lemon juice Croutons Drop shrimp into boiling water, seasoned with salt and pepper, cook 20 minutes. Strain and save liquid. Shell shrimp, remove black veins, and cut up. Save heads and shells. Melt butter, add olive oil, and fry onion and garlic, slowly, without browning. Add sorrel, tomato juice, shrimp liquor, and shrimp. Bring to a boil. Grind shells and heads as fine as possible, mix with a little of the shrimp liquor and press all possible through a sieve and add to the soup. Simmer until soup is well blended. Add lemon juice, and serve with croutons. ALMOND SOUP {Sopa de Amendoas) % pound sweet almonds Salt 2 bitter almonds Granulated sugar 1 quart milk, scalded 2 tablespoons butter Croutons Blanch and peel almonds and grind to a paste, adding water, a few drops at a time, to keep mass from oiling. Add a little of the hot milk to the almond paste, mixing with a wooden spoon, and pass through a fine sieve, adding more milk, as necessary, to rub all through sieve. Put mixture in double boiler and cook 15-20 minutes, stirring constantly with wooden spoon. Add remaining hot milk, season with salt and then with a little sugar. Add butter. Lay croutons in hot tureen and pour soup over. PRINCES' CHOWDER (Caldeirada de Principe s) 2 onions, sliced 8 shrimp, shelled l/2 garlic clove, minced 1 slice, each, 4 varieties fish lA pound butter 2 dozen mussels % pound ham, chopped lA bay leaf 1 large tomato, chopped % teaspoon fresh ground pepper 6 sorrel leaves, minced Salt (optional) 8 oysters 1 small eel, skinned and sliced 2 tablespoons lemon juice Slowly fry onions and garlic in butter without browning; add ham and fry, then tomato; add sorrel, eel, shrimp, and fish. Turn in the mixture and fry, shaking the pan, until heated through. Meanwhile, have the mussels steamed open, and the meats removed. Add sufficient boiling water to liquid left in pan to make 1J/2 quarts; drop in the steamed mussels and cook 15 minutes. Strain and pour liquid over frying fish mixture. Set over slow heat and simmer 10 minutes, adding bay leaf, pepper, and salt. Add oysters with their liquor and simmer until they crinkle. Add lemon juice and serve, putting a bit of each fish and sea food in each serving. (The mussels are to be thrown away.) This dish is all the tastier if cooked with sea water, according to the practice of coastal Portuguese. DRY SOUP (Sopa Secca) 1 quart soup stock plenty of mint, tied to- Salt (sparingly) gether) Pepper 2 tablespoons butter, melted Sprigs of sweet herbs (parsley, Slices stale bread, without crusts tarragon, bay, thyme and Mix all together, adding enough bread to make very thick. Bring to a boil over very slow fire; remove herbs. Turn into a casserole and bake in moderate oven until brown and crusty. Serve at once. PORTUGUESE SOUP {Sopa a Portugueza) This soup is a meal in itself and is prepared in three distinct operations, as follows: (A) 3 pounds lean beef 1 onion, quartered l/2 pound salt pork 2 quarts cold water Vz pound ham Salt