RINGING THE CHANGES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 165, 21 August 1942, Page 15

RINGING THE CHANGES

AST week we answered half the request of the Link in Central Otago — for dishes based on the coufitry women’s standbys, mutton and eggs. This week, we are to suggest various ways of ringing the changes with eggs. American Poached Eggs The American poached egg is cooked by slipping the egg from a saucer into a rather deep pan half filled with boiling water, slightly salted and also containing a few drops of vinegar, The heat is then reduced so that the water just nicely simmers, and the pan is covered, so that the top of the yolk cooks by steam. Take up with a_ perforated spoon. To Serve: (1) Plain. Place on a neat slice of buttered toast, pour a little melted butter over the egg, and dust the yolk with paprika. (2) Make a rich white sauce, add plenty of grated cheese to it, and pour it over a neatly trimmed slice of toast. Put the poached egg on top and sprinkle with paprika and finely chopped parsley or chives, or both. (3) Pour very hot tomato sauce over the toast, then put the poached egg upon it, and sprinkle with paprika. (4) Make a good white sauce, adding diced ham to taste, and diced cooked celery. Pour this over the toast, and top with the poached egg, and sprinkle with paprika and chopped parsley. Egg and Carrot Curry Cut sufficient carrots lengthwise into four pieces, and cut sufficient onions into thick slices. Boil them together in only a little water until cooked. Lift out the carrot quarters carefully without breaking, and keep hot. Add milk to the onions and their liquor, and thicken with cornflour, to which sufficient curry powder has been added, and the whole mixed to a paste with a little» milk. Pepper and salt to taste, and a knob of butter. When thickened, pile this curry mixture high on a large dish with hard boiled eggs cut in halves arranged upon it. Place the carrot pieces around the curry to represent a wheel with a high centre. Surround the whole with boiled rice, nicely strained and dried, with the grains separate. Fried Hard-Boiled Eggs Is an idea from the East. Cut the hard-boiled egg in halves lengthwise, and fry in butter. Swiss Eggs Into a well buttered, shallow fireproof dish sprinkle a layer of grated cheegp, slip the eggs, carefully broken into saucer, on to this, season with salt and pepper. Have ready some good white sauce to which add more grated cheese and chopped parsley. Pour this over the eggs-sufficient to barely cover themand bake in a slow oven till set. Eggs and Mushrooms Cook the prepared mushrooms in butter for about 10 minutes, then put them into a fireproof dish. Slip care-

fully-broken raw eggs over them. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook in a slow oven till the eggs are set. Or fry the mushrooms in butter, cool a little, then add to beaten-up eggs and scramble in butter. Curried Eggs (with variations) These make a popular meal. Simply make a good curry sauce, and put your halved or sliced hard-boiled eggs into it for a minute or two to.reheat thoroughly before serving. The Curry Sauce may be light or dark. For the Light Sauce, fry a sliced onion in butter until soft, but not brown, a chopped apple or two is nice with this. Then stir in a little flour and curry powder, and allow to fry a little before adding warm milk, or milk and water (or strained potato water). Bring to the boil and simmer gently till all is nicely cooked. Add sugar to taste, then the eggs. For Dark Sauce (a nice change), fry the onion nicely brown, and add -tock or gravy or hot water with meat extract, instead of milk. Sugar to taste. Sliced cooked carrots or parsnips are often added to curried eggs. Variation. Brown a finely chopped onion in a little butter, add a dessertspoon of curry powder and a little sugar mixed with a cup of milk. Boil until thick. Then slip in carefully broken eggs from a saucer, and poach them in the mixture. Serve with a squeeze of lemon over them. Lentils and Eggs (Indian) Soak 1% Ib. lentils overnight. Fry 2 sliced onions in butter till nicely brown, stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of curry powder and a pinch of ground ginger, with salt and sugar to taste, and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the lentils and fry for a few minutes, then add a pint of good stock, and simmer all until the lentils are tender. "h result should resemble a rather dry porridge. Have ready 6 hard-boiled eggs, shelled, prick these with a fork, rub with salt and fry them in butter to a golden brown, In : India, they mix a little saffron with the salt. Serve the hot fried eggs on a bed of lentil porridge. Egg and Onion Pie (American) Line a deep pie-plate with good short pastry and bake. While hot, fill it with | hot, thick white onion sauce, and cover with thick slices of hard-boiled eggs, season with a little Worcester sauce, sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve hot.