Little French dinners

Canetons aux Navets (Ducks with Turnips). — Tie a piece of buttered paper over the breast of each duckling and roast at a moderate fire for about thirty-five minutes according to their size. Baste them frequently and remove the paper five or ten minutes before the birds are done, when they should be sprinkled with salt. Serve with thick gravy in a sauceboat, which may be made from the necks, giblets, and trimmings of the ducks, and arrange round the dish small heaps of turnips cooked as follows : Peel some turnips, cut them into the shape of olives, blanch them for five minutes, then fry them with some butter and a little caster sugar till they are a golden colour ; season them with pepper and salt, moisten them with gravy, and let them stew very gently till quite tender. Omelette aux Pointes d'Asperges (Asparagus Omelet). — Beat up five or six eggs in a basin with a fork, add a tablespoonful of milk, pepper and salt to taste, and some asparagus heads previously boiled. Put about an ounce of butter in an omelet-pan, let it get as hot as possible, burning colour, then pour in the beaten eggs. As the mixture begins to set, Little French Dinners. 35 lift it up with a small slice to let the uncooked liquid part run in its place, and keep the omelet as much as possible towards the centre of the pan (i.e., do not let it spread out too thin, especially when using a large pan) ; the omelet will not take much more than a minute to cook ; the underneath part next to the pan should be a golden brown, and the surface very soft and slightly liquid. Directly it is sufficiently set, slip the omelet from the pan into a moderately heated dish, letting it roll over as you do so, so that it will assume its ordinary folded shape ; serve immediately. St. Honore anx Groseilles (St. Honore of Gooseberries).— First of all make some pate a choux as follows : Put into a saucepan half a pint of water, a quarter of a pound of butter, and two ounces of sugar. Let the mixture boil, then add gradually half a pound of finely sifted flour, and when the flour has all been absorbed, and the paste is quite dry, remove the saucepan from the fire and add, one by one, seven or eight eggs, beating the mixture well the whole time, till a very smooth paste is obtained. Then make some short paste, and roll it out to the thickness of a quarter of an inch, and cut it into a round from six to eight inches in diameter. Place this on a baking-sheet, put the choux paste into a forcing bag, and press out of it a ring about an inch in thickness on to the edge of the round of paste, brush it over with yolk of egg, and place the sheet in a moderate oven. With the remainder of the choux paste make some little balls, egg them over, and bake these on another flat tin. When all has been baked a nice golden colour, stick these balls with white of egg quite close together on the top of the roll of choux paste. In the centre place some stewed gooseberries and heap up on the top some whipped cream ; serve cold. D 2 36 Little French Dinners. MENU,— XIIL POTAGE ROYAL X L'OSEILLE. SAUMON 1 L'HOLLANDAISE. POTJLET EN SALMIS. PTJREE DE LAITTJES. DARIOLES ATTX CERISES.