Little French dinners

Epinards a la Creme (Spinach with Cream). — Pick and wash three pounds of spinach and put it in a large saucepan, rather more than half full of boiling water, with a little salt. At the end of twelve minutes, take the saucepan off the fire and put the spinach into cold water. Then take it up a handful at a time, and, having squeezed out all the water from it, pass it through a hair sieve. When this is done, put the spinach into a clean saucepan with two ounces of butter, and pepper and salt to taste, and let it cook slowly, stirring it occasionally for about a quarter of an hour. Lastly, add two or three tablespoonfuls of cream, mix well and serve piled up in the centre of the dish and surrounded with fried croutons of bread. Pudding a la Gitana (Gitana Pudding). — Spread some sponge fingers (Savoy biscuits) with some apricot jam, which has been slightly warmed and passed through a sieve. About six ounces will be sufficient. Put four single layers of these B 2 Little French Dinners. biscuits in a round china souffle dish, about seven inches in diameter and two to three inches deep, and pour on them a hot custard made with the yolks of five eggs, a pint of milk, a few drops of vanilla essence and sugar to taste. Leave the biscuits to soak in the custard for two or three hours, then put the dish in the oven, and when the whole is thoroughly warmed through, cover the surface entirely with the whites of the eggs whisked to a stiff froth, heaping it up as high as possible. Put the dish back in the oven till the surface is a golden brown, then serve immediately. MENU — II. POTAGE PTTREE DE COTJRGES. TRANCHES DE SATJMON ; SAUCE PIQUANTE. Cotelettes de Mouton a la Gelee. BECASSES A LA CELESTIN. "OMELETTE AIT PARMESAN. Potage Puree de Courges (Vegetable Marrow Soup). — Cut into four pieces a moderate-sized vegetable marrow, remove the seeds and peel the pieces. Boil them in about a quart of ordinary white stock well freed from fat, till they are thoroughly done, and then pass the marrow through a fine hair sieve. Melt one ounce of fresh butter in a saucepan, and thoroughly mix with it on the fire half a tablespoonful of flour, add gradually the vegetable marrow pulp with the stock in which it was boiled, season with white pepper, salt, and a grate of nutmeg, and keep stirring the soup on the fire for quite ten minutes ; at the last, stir in three pennyworth of cream. Let the soup boil up, and serve with small dice of fried bread. Little French Dinners. Tranches de Sanmon, Sauce Piquante (Salmon with Sharp Sauce). — Take two slices of salmon not quite an inch in thickness and lay them in a marinade composed of oil, salt, lemon juice and herbs, for an hour or so. Then place the slices of salmon on the gridiron, which should be previously well oiled, and broil them carefully over a moderate, but very clear, fire. Serve with the following sauce in a boat : — Peel and chop up very finely some shallots ; of these, take a tablespoonful and a half and put them in a saucepan with salt, pepper, a little grated nutmeg, one ounce of butter, and two tablespoonfuls or more of French vinegar. Stir over the fire till the vinegar is reduced, which will be shown by the butter becoming clear.