Little French dinners

Catelettes d'Agneau aux Ponimes Nouvelles (Lamb Cutlets with New Potatoes). — Trim the cutlets neatly, and grill them over a clear bright fire, sprinkle them with fine pepper and salt, and dish them in a circle with some new potatoes in the centre cooked as follows, the remainder being sent up in a vegetable dish : Take about one pound and a half of new potatoes, cook them in their skins for about fifteen minutes, then peel them, and cook them for another fifteen minutes in two ounces of salt butter, toss them well, and before serving sprinkle chopped parsley over. Artichauts a l'Huile (Artichokes with Salad Sauce). — Allow half an artichoke for each person ; trim them neatly, cutting off the ends of the leaves and put them in a saucepan with plenty of boiling water, salt, a tiny bit of soda, and the juice of a lemon. Keep on the lid of the saucepan, and when the artichokes are done (which can be ascertained by the leaves coming apart quite easily), drain them thoroughly (this is most essential), cut them in half, dish them up on a napkin, and serve with the following sauce in a boat : Beat up in a basin for a few minutes, six dessertspoonfuls of salad oil, two of tarragon vinegar, half a small teaspoonful each of salt, and French or English mustard and pepper to taste ; then add some finely-chopped tarragon, and whisk again just before serving. Creme de Marrons (Chestnut Cream). — Take half a pound of Spanish chestnuts, cut a cross on each, and boil them in plenty of water till the outer and inner skins can easily be removed. Then pound them in a mortar, and pass them through a fine sieve into a basin, adding a few drops 22 Little French Dinners. of milk to facilitate the process. Next beat up the yolks of three eggs with a gill of cream and a gill of milk, sweeten with two ounces of sugar, add a few drops of essence of vanilla, and strain the mixture into a double saucepan (the outside one being filled with hot water). Stir the custard over the fire with a wooden spoon until it thickens (about fifteen minutes), then add rather less than half an ounce of gelatine, which has been previously soaked in a very little water and dissolved on the fire. Pour this custard gradually on to the chestnut puree in the basin, mixing it all well together with a wooden spoon, and pour it into a fancy pint mould with a hollow in the centre. Leave it in a cold place to set, then turn it out and fill the space in the centre with a gill of cream whisked very stiffly with a little fine sugar and coloured a pale pink. POTAGE D'ORGE A L'ECOSSAISE. Filets de Carrelets a la Juive. TOURNEDOS DE BOEUF A LA FLAMANDE. POULE DE PRAIRIE ROTIE. POMMES DE TERRE EN RUBANS. AU PARMESAN. Potage d'Orge a l'Ecossaise (Scotch Broth). — Put into a good sized saucepan two pints of cold water with about two pounds of the scrag end of a neck of mutton, half a teacupful of pearl barley, and some salt. Bring it to the boil, remove all scum, then add a gill of cold water, let it boil up again, continue to skim it, bring it to the boil Little French Dinners. 23