Seasonal Menu

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 310, 22 March 1928, Page 9

Seasonal Menu

Tetnpting the Appetite with Suitable Dishes

Dong, hot days are pleasant when spent in idleness by the seaside or in the country, but when they must be passed in sultry streets or strenuous work the heat is apt to prove trying. Spirits droop, the appetite for ordinary food flags, and- the general level of health falls below par. This is not as it should be, for a constitution weakened during the summer will cause its owner to fall an easy prey to the cold winds and dapip days of autumn, which is also the epidemic season of the year. Hot weather ailments are often due to a faulty dietary. Two mistakes are commonly made. Either people adhere to the winter menu, with its meat dishes, suet puddings, soups,, and so on, or they declare that it is too hot to eat, and live off “snacks” of pastry and ices. Food should be lessened in quantity during the summer but not in quality. On the contrary, special care should be taken that all dishes have an extra nutritive value, as less probably wi’l be eaten-of each. It is often wise to have the lighter meal in the middle of the day when the heat is greatest. Appetites revive in the cool of the evening. For a summer lunch an ideal men sb consist of a vegetarian or egg dish, plenty of salad, and bread and butter, with fresh fruit. Macaroni cheese, eggs au gratin, or

an omelette is suitable for a first course.

When raw fruit is tired of it is often enjoyed in the new guise of a fruit jelly. To make these use one of the pint packages of jelly, dissolving in less water than usual; make up the quantity of water by adding some fruit syrup. Stand the wetted mould in chopped ice, pour in a little of the jelly, wait till set, and add a layer of fruit, and so on until the mould is full. Cherries (preserved), bananas and grapes all combine excellently in a lemon or strawberry jelly. Another pretty summer luncheon sweet can be made by half-filling a glass with chopped jelly and piling white of egg very stiffly whisked rith castor sugar on top. Decorate with morsels of jelly in different colours. Slices of rye bread with cream cheese make a suitable finish to the meal. This bread is crisp and tempting to the taste, and more digestible than starchy white bread.

In the evening something substantial will be needed, but even remains of cold meat can be served in an attractive and appetising manner if the cook will make use of aspic jelly. This can now be purchased like fruit jellies in packet form, so that its employment is simplicity itself. A salmon mayonnaise, followed by lamb cutlets in aspic is a most popular summer menu. Hard boiled eggs each halved and served in separate ramakins surrounded by chopped aspic is a quickly