Little French dinners

Veau a la Suzanne (Veal a la Suzanne). — Take a piece of " cushion " of veal, trim it very neatly, and put it in a saucepan with a good sized piece of butter. Continue turning it until it is of a rich golden colour all over, then take it out of the saucepan, put it on a dish, and sprinkle it all over with fine salt and a little pepper. Next add a little more butter to the saucepan, and put in a quantity of raw potatoes, cut up into pieces the size and shape of orange quarters. Dust them with salt, put on the cover of the saucepan and shake it frequently until the potatoes have taken colour. Then add an onion, finely minced, and when the onion is half cooked add a clove of garlic, minced very finely, and as soon as this assumes a light brown colour, put in a tablespoonful of flour ; when this has become brown, add four or five ladlefuls of stock or hot water. Stir the whole well, and then put in the piece of meat, with any juice that may have oozed out of it. Lastly, add a bouquet composed of a few sprigs of parsley, one of thyme, one clove, and half a very small red capsicum, all tied together with a piece of thread. Put on the cover of the saucepan, and let the whole simmer for an hour, at the least. Remove the bouquet, and serve the veal surrounded with the potatoes, and the sauce poured over the whole. Little French Dinners. 49 Becassines a la Crapaudine (Grilled Snipe). — Pick, singe, and draw the requisite number of snipe; let them be thoroughly dry. Split them down the back without dividing them entirely, then flatten them as much as possible with a cutlet-bat, and lay them for a short time in a marinade composed of oil, pepper, salt, parsley, and a bayleaf . Next grill them over a quick fire for about five minutes on each side, and serve them immediately on a very hot dish, surrounded with watercress. Hand in a sauce-boat some clear gravy, well flavoured with lemon- juice. Potato chips should accompany this dish. Tourte de Frangipane (Tart of Frangipane). — Break into a basin two eggs, add the yolks of two or three more, one heaped tablespoonful of fine flour, the same quantity, or more, according to taste, of caster sugar, and a very small pinch of salt. Beat the whole together, and when quite smooth, stir in, a little at a time, a pint of cold milk. Strain the mixture into a saucepan; put this on the fire and stir continuously. When it begins to get warm, mix in one ounce of the best fresh butter, melted on the fire till it assumes a light brown colour. Now add to the custard the thin rind of a fresh lemon, or a pod of vanilla or any other flavouring essence that is liked ; the custard having become sufficiently thick, continue the stirring till it is almost cold, then add to it a couple of macaroons finely pounded, and put it on one side. Roll some puff -paste into a sheet, a quarter to three-eighths of an inch thick ; lay it on a baking sheet, and on it make a layer of the frangipane half to three-quarters of an inch thick, till within one inch of the edge ; moisten it all round with water, and cover with another sheet of puff paste of the same thickness as the first.