EGG DISHES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 119, 3 October 1941, Page 45

EGG DISHES

GGS are cheap now, so let us take advantage of the fact, and prepare some _ tasty dishes to vary our usual round ofg roast and boiled meat, and casserole stews. Remember that eggs are a very valuable food, are rich in protein, in Vitamins A and B, and in minerals. A nurse once told me that she kept up the strength of a very sick man over a long and trying period, mainly on yolk of egg and orange juice, beaten together. But well and healthy people will want dishes tasty and toothsome, as well as satisfying and nourishing, so here are some suggestions. Then if you have plenty of eggs in the house you can easily get a suitable meal for unexpected visitors. : Alpine Eggs Four eggs, 6 ozs. grated cheese, 1 oz. butter, 1 dessertspoon vinegar, pepper and salt. Butter a shallow tin, line it with nearly all the cheese, sprinkle the vinegar over, then break the eggs on top very carefully, so that the |yolks are not broken. Sprinkle with pepper and salt. Cover the top with the rest of the cheese and some finely chopped parsley, and put some knobs of butter on top of all. If you like, you may sprinkle a handful of crisp wheat flakes over as well. Bake in a hot oven for about ten minutes, till the eggs are nicely set.

Picnic Pie The lady who gave me this had it from Dame Christina Massey. It may be eaten hot or cod, and it is not necessary to wait for a picnic to enjoy this hearty meal. Line a deep dish with good pastry. either flaky or short. (A potato pastry is quite good, and I will add the recipe for it.) Place first a layer of pork sausages, partly fried a nice brown, then a layer of uncooked bacon rashers, and one of thick slices of tomato; and lastly a layer of eggs, carefully broken without spoiling the yolks. Season with a little pepper, and cover with a layer of pastry. Bake in a steady oven till tne pastry is cooked; the inside will then be done too. Eat- either hot or cold. This makes a good supper dish as well as a dinner. Potato Pastry Half a pound of flour, %41lb. of lard or dripping, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 breakfast cup of mashed potatoes, a salt spoon of salt, and a little milk to form it into a workable dough. This is just made in the usual way, of course.

Bacon and Egg Savoury Cut about 3 ozs. of bacon into small pieces, and fry lightly in a frying pan. While that is frying, beat together 2 eggs, 1 cup of milk, a sprinkling of pepper, but no salt, as the bacon usually is salty. Add the crisped bacon to this savoury custard, place in a casserole, or pie-dish, and bake in the oven for about fifteen minutes until it is set. Egg and Carrot Curry Dish Prepare several carrots, cutting each lengthwise into four. Cut up 2 or 3 onions, and boil them with the carrots until cooked, but do not let fhe carrots break, Lift them out and keep them hot. Add a cupful of milk to the liquor and onions, and thicken it with cornflour or flour, adding curry powder to taste. It is best to mix the flour and curry to a paste with cold water or milk before adding it to the hot liquor; and don’t forget a little sugar and a squeeze of lemon-juice: Pepper and salt. to taste. Have ready some well cooked rice, with the grains dry and separate, and hot; and also four hard-boiled eggs, shelled and cut in halves. Now pile the curry high in the middle .of a flat dish, and place the carrots like the spokes of a wheel, radiating from it. Put the boiled rice between the "spokes," and also in a border round the whdle, and arrange the hard boiled eggs nicely on top of the curry. Serve with chutney.

Baked Eggs on Smoked Fish Allow 2 tablespoons of smoked fish and one egg for each person. Simmer the fish in ,milk till soft, then drain and flake it. Put the servings of 2 tablespoons either in individual dishes, or in heaps in a large casserole. Break an egg carefully upon each heap, sprinkle with pepper and salt; and bake about ten minutes in a hot oven till the eggs are set. It may be served with or without the fish liquor thickened as a sauce, with parsley added. f Scots Eggs Boil some eggs hard. Remove the shells and cover the eggs well with sausage meat, Then roll in beaten egg, and afterwards in iried breadcrumbs; fry them in very hot deep fat. Some people -give them a coating of mashed potato outside the sausage meat, as well as the egg and breadcrumbs; and some leave out the sausage — especially in Lent, and just cover with the potato. Very nice either way; may be served hot with a good gravy, or cold with a green salad. It is quite a substantial dish. Scalloped Eggs There may be in the pantry, a cup of cold boiled rice, and a cup of mashed potatoes (left-overs). Probably there is \some stale bread in the bin. If so, boil ‘four or five eggs. till. hard-do not let ‘them boil’ rapidly, but only simmer ‘slowly for twenty minutes, or so. Fast boiling makes the albumen — tncigeugiets. _--

Pop them into cold water, then when cold and shelled, chop them up and mix them with the rice and potatoes, adding a tablespoon of melted butter and some chopped parsley. Make a good white sauce-that ever-useful standby in tasty dishes, and add to the mixture, Put it all into a buttered pie-dish, sprinkle with finely grated soft breadcrumbs, and dot pieces of butter over it. Bake for about 20 minutes in a moderate oven. Quite a nice little dish. (Continued on next page).

(Continued from previous page) SOME AMERICAN SUGGESTIONS Shirred Eggs (1) Plain, — Butter individual little oven dishes, or even saucers, and carefully break in one or two eggs as desired. Dust lightly with salt and pepper, and add a good knob of butter. Set the

dishes in a shallow baking tin of boiling water, and cook the eggs gently in the oven until they are set — about ten minutes. They can be cooked directly in the oven without the hot water, in a shorter time, but will not be quite as digestible. (2) With Mushrooms. — Lightly fry the mushrooms in butter, then put a spoonful in the little dish before breaking in the egg. (3) With Tomato-Put a spoonful of tomato steamed soft in butter, under the egg. (4) With Creamed Left-overs. — Any small left-over pieces of ham, or chicken, or veal, or tongue, can be sliced or diced up and heated up in a good white ‘sauce with parsley; and a layer of this tasty# mixture put under the egg and then shirred as above. Scalloped Eggs (1) Plain-Make a good white sauce by melting 3 tablespoons of butter, ‘Stirring in 3 tablespoons of flour and melting together, then gradually adding about 2 cups of milk and cooking till nicely thickened, seasoning with pepper and salt and adding half a cupful of grated cheese. Have ready 6 hard-boiled eggs. Butter a casserole or baking dish, and put in a layer of the sliced eggs; cover with the sauce, and repeat till all is used up. Cover with soft breadcrumbs mixed with melted butter, and put into a hot oven till nicely browned. (2) With Chicken.-Cover each layer of sliced eggs with minced cooked chicken (or fowl) and any left-over stuffing. This is a lovely way of using little bits of left-over fowl, such as the :

7 (3) With Crayfish-Cover the sliced eggs with chopped crayfish. Tinned crab is very nice indeed too. Egg and Onion Pie Cook a good pie-shell first. Make a filling by mixing a cupful of good rich white sauce with 2. cups of cooked sliced onion, and 4 or 5 sliced hardboiled eggs. Season with a good dash of Worcester sauce, and put this all into the hot pie-shell. Sprinkle liberally with chopped parsley and serve.