Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Prepare the onions just as if they were to be served as creamed onions. Put them into an escalop dish before pouring the sauce over them, and after sprinkling them with a small cupful of bread crumbs, bake in a moderate oven for twenty minutes. By some people it may be considered as an improvement to use a table-spoonful of grated cheese with the crumbs. Stuffed Onions. Boil six large onions gently for an hour in clear water in plenty. At the end of the stated time remove the onions from the water, and with a sharp knife cut a piece from the centre of each. Mix together two tablespoonfuls of fine-chopped ham, three of bread crumbs, one of butter, three of inilk or cream, one egg, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a grain of cayenne. Fill with this mixture the spaces made in the onions. Sprinkle with dry crumbs, and put half a teaspoonful of butter on top of each onion. Place on brown earthen plates, and bake slowly for an hour. Serve with cream sauce. Spanish onions are especially delicious prepared in this manner. * Stewed Tomatoes. Pare ripe tomatoes, and then cut them into small pieces. Put them in a stew-pan, and simmer for half an hour. At the end of that time add, for each quart, a teaspoonful of salt, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of pepper, and two table-spoonfuls of butter. Simmer for ten minutes longer. This is a dish as to which tastes vary a good deal ; ten minutes' cooking being all some persons give it, whereas others stew the tomatoes two hours. A teaspoonful of sugar and half a cupful of cracker crumbs are sometimes added with the butter and other seasoning. Canned tomatoes can be treated the same as the fresh, except that they will require but half as much cooking. Baked Tomatoes. Cut the skin from one end of each of half a dozen goodsized smooth tomatoes. With a teaspoon scoop out about half of the pulp, and mix it with two table-spoonfuls of butter, two of powdered cracker, one teaspoonful of salt, one of sugar, and half a teaspoonful of pepper. Fill the cavities with this mixture, and after sprinkling the tomatoes with crumbs, bake them in a moderate oven for half an hour. Breaded Tomatoes. The tomatoes should be firm and cold. The variety called beefsteak tomato is the best for breading. Before doing any other work, get ready a kettle of hot fat, roll and sift a quantity of bread crumbs, and beat two eggs. All this is necessary because the tomatoes grow soft and juicy if allowed to stand. Pare and slice them, and after seasoning well with salt and pepper, dip each slice in beaten egg and then in bread crumbs. When all the slices have been treated in this manner, dip them again in the egg and crumbs j then place them in a frying-basket, and plunge into boiling fat. Cook for about a minute and a half. For six people, about four large tomatoes, two eggs, and a cupful of crumbs will be required. * Broiled Tomatoes. After paring and slicing the tomatoes, and seasoning suitably with salt and pepper, dip the slices in beaten egg and in crumbs. Broil over clear coals for about eight minutes. Place on a hot dish, with a bit of butter m in the centre of each slice. This dish is good for breakfast, luncheon, or tea.