Little French dinners

CHAMPIGNONS A. LA BORDELAISE. FLAN A LA TUEQTTE. Potage à la Condé (Haricot Bean Soup). — Boil threequarters of a pint of red haricot beans in two quarts of " second stock," with an onion, two carrots, a leek, a bay leaf, some parsley, whole pepper and salt. Let the whole simmer for about four hours, stirring it occasionally ; then pass all, including the vegetables, through a hair sieve ; return the puree to the saucepan, let it boil up, add more stock to make the soup of the right consistency, and finish with a pat of butter and a spoonful of hot cream. Serve with small dice of bread fried in boiling fat. Blanchailles à la Diable (Devilled Whitebait). — Throw the whitebait into cold water, take them out, dry them thoroughly in a cloth, and toss them in flour in a clean dry cloth. Then shake the fish in a wire sieve so as to get rid of all the superfluous flour, put some of them in a wire basket, and plunge it into a pan of boiling lard or dripping, which should entirely cover the fish; keep on shaking the basket. If the fat is at the proper heat, the whitebait should hardly take more than a minute or two to cook ; directly they are crisp, lift the basket from the fat, give it a good shaking, and sprinkle on the fish some cayenne pepper and salt, shake again, and then turn the whitebait on to a cloth, and let them stand a short time in front of the fire to dry. Fry the rest of the whitebait in the same manner, and at the time of serving, dish them up 26 Little French Dinners. in a heap on a hot napkin, and hand round with them thin slices of brown bread-and-butter, and a lemon cut in half. Noix de Veau à la Parmentier (Veal with New Potatoes). — Remove the bone from a fillet of veal weighing about four pounds, tie it up very tightly, so that there may be no hollow in the centre, and put it in a stewpan with two ounces of butter, which has just been allowed to slightly brown ; add three medium-sized onions cut up in slices, a rasher of bacon cut in dice, and some pepper and salt. Put on the lid of the saucepan and let the veal stew gently for half-an-hour. At the end of this time turn the veal over, add two carrots cut up, some parsley, thyme, and bayleaf, and replacing the cover, let the whole simmer slowly for an hour, then add two pounds of small new potatoes peeled, and leave it again for another hour, shaking the saucepan occasionally (no water or stock of any kind should be added). At the time of serving, put the piece of veal in the centre of the dish and place the potatoes all round it. Strain the gravy into a saucepan, free it from fat, add a teaspoonful of arrowroot, let it boil up once, and pour it all over and round the veal. Serve as hot as possible. Champignons a la Bordelaise (Mushrooms a la Bordelaise). — Choose some fine sound mushrooms all as much as possible of the same size, peel them, trim them neatly, and leave them for an hour in a marinade composed of oil, whole pepper, and salt. Then sprinkle them with ground pepper, and grill them on both sides over a clear fire. In the meantime put into a saucepan three tablespoonfuls of oil or melted butter, add a teaspoonful of finely chopped parsley, one or two shallots finely chopped, and the juice of a lemon. Cook on the fire for about seven minutes, then pour over the mushrooms in a very hot dish and serve at once.