Little French dinners

Turbot a la Cardinal (Turbot with Cardinal sauce). — Melt one ounce of butter and mix with it half an ounce of flour, with a little salt and pepper and a grate of nutmeg ; stir well over a slow fire for a few minutes, then add gradually a gill and a half of milk in which half an onion and a carrot and a sprig of parsley have been boiled. Continue to stir till the sauce is quite smooth and thick, then add half a saltspoonful of anchovy sauce, and colour the sauce red with lobster butter made by pounding some lobster spawn with double the quantity of butter and passing both through a hair sieve. Then take the remains of a cooked turbot, or part of a freshly boiled one divided carefully into flakes and perfectly freed from bones and skin. Add the fish to the sauce on the fire, and let the whole get thoroughly hot, stirring it very gently. Then turn out into small china cases and serve. His de Vean an Jus (Stewed Sweetbreads in cases). — Trim one or two sweetbreads and soak them for an hour in luke warm water, then lay them in a saucepan for an hour with salt, lemon, and sufficient cold water to cover them. Bring the water to the boil and let them simmer for about ten minutes, after which lay them in some cold water, and Little French Dinners. 83 when cool cut them into convenient pieces, and toss them in a saute-pan with plenty of butter till they begin to take colour, adding a shallot finely minced. Moisten with some well-flavoured brown gravy, cover with a slice of fat bacon, and let the pieces of sweetbread simmer till they are quite tender, moistening with more gravy if necessary. Have ready some paper cases, which have been well oiled and dried in the oven for a quarter of an hour, fill them with the pieces of sweetbread, pour a little of the gravy into each, and serve at once. Souffles de Laperan (Souffles of rabbit). — Pound the white meat of one or two raw rabbits with a little butter, pepper and salt, one or two mushrooms, the least bit of shallot, and a grate of nutmeg. Pass this paste through a hair sieve, work into it a little white sauce, then as many yolks of eggs as there are ounces of rabbit when passed through the sieve. The mixture should be of the consistency of a puree or very thick cream. Lastly, mix in quickly the whites of two eggs whisked to a stiff froth. Fill paper cases with the mixture, bake quickly in a good oven, and serve without delay. Petit s Pois a la Francaise (Peas a la Franqaise). — Cook a pint of shelled peas. When tender, drain them thoroughly and put them back on the fire with not quite a gill of the water in which they were boiled, a sprinkling of flour, and an ounce of butter. Simmer for five minutes, add pepper and salt to taste, and finish by adding the yolk of an egg mixed with a tablespoonful and a half of cream. Serve very hot in china or paper cases. CEufs a la Crexne (Eggs with cream). — Butter some china cases, break a fresh egg into each, add salt, Parmesan cheese, then a dessertspoonful of cream, and at the last a little grated nutmeg. Place the cases in a quick oven just long enough to set the eggs, and then serve. G 2 84 Little French Dinners.