Little French dinners

the fire a small piece of butter with some flour, gradually add the above puree, flavour with a little pepper and nutmeg, and stir the sauce some little time till it is perfectly smooth. If necessary, improve the colour of the sauce by pounding some lobster spawn with the prawns. Noisettes d'Agneati Cendrillon (Fillets of Lamb with Cendrillon garnish). — Take the fillet from a loin of lamb, cut it in slices about three quarters of an inch thick, trim them all very neatly and cook them in a saute-pan with plenty of butter and a good sprinkling of salt. They should be underdone. Put each slice on an artichoke bottom, previously cooked in stock, mask each with some well-reduced puree of onions (Soubise) and add a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese and a little butter melted. Put them in the oven to take colour, put a fine slice of truffle warmed in gravy on each and serve at once. Courge au Gratin (Vegetable marrow au Gratin). — Boil a good-sized vegetable marrow till rather more than three-parts done, divide it lengthwise, remove the pips, cut each piece in half transversely and lay the marrow on a well-buttered dish, previously rubbed with a shallot. In the meantime melt one ounce and a half of butter or dripping in a saucepan, add a tablespoonful of flour, and when thoroughly mixed, stir in by degrees rather more than half a pint of milk. Bring the sauce to the boil, then add pepper and salt to taste, and two tablespoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese ; pour the sauce over the marrow, sprinkle the surface with a mixture of fine breadcrumbs and grated cheese, and place the dish in a brisk oven till the surface is of a light brown colour. Serve the marrow on the same dish, which should be placed inside another one. Crepes a la Francaise (French Pancakes). — Beat two ounces of butter to a cream with two ounces of caster 78 Little French Dinners. sugar, then add the same weight in flour and when quite smooth, beat up two eggs in half a pint of milk and add it to the rest a few drops at a time, stirring vigorously all the time. Butter four or five saucers, fill them with the mixture and bake in rather a slow oven. When done turn them out, place them one on the top of the other with apricot jam spread in between. Sprinkle the surface with caster sugar, return to the oven for two or three minutes and then serve at once. AN ECONOMICAL DINNER. POTAGE A LA PUREE DE MARRONS. FILETS DE MERLANS A LA METTNIERE. PALAIS DE BOEUF A LA ROBERT. CARRE DE MOTTTON ROTI. CHOUX DE BRUXELLES. POMMES DE TERRE. OEUFS FARCIS AU GRATIN. OMELETTE SOUFFLEE A LA VANILLE. Potage a la Puree de Marrons (Chestnut Soup). — Take off the outer skins from a pound and a half of chestnuts and put them into a saucepan with plenty of cold water. When the water boils, drain the chestnuts and remove the inner skins. Then put them into a clean saucepan, with a quart of milk and a quart of water, a carrot and an onion cut in slices, a tiny bit of mace, a bay leaf, a sprig of parsley, salt and whole pepper. Let it all boil up and then simmer Little French Dinners. 79