NEW WAYS WITH VEGETABLES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 368, 12 July 1946, Page 26

NEW WAYS WITH VEGETABLES

E are all used to boiling, steaming and baking our vegetables, and we sometimes forget that there are novel ways they can be used. This makes a stimulating change from the plain every-day methods, and mostly they are quite easy to prepare and not at all extravagant. Some of these dishes can be used for a main course for lunch or tea. Vegetable Harlequin One bunch of peeled carrots; 5 peeled small white onions; 4 cups of celery cut into half-inch pieces; 2 teaspoons of salt; 1 cup of boiling water; 4% cup of milk; 2 tablespoons of good fat, or butter; 2 tablespoons of flour, and a sprinkle of pepper. Method: Cut the carrots in half lengthwise, and then slice them across. Quarter the onions. Place all the vegetables in a covered saucepan with the salt and water, and cook for about 30 minutes. Add the milk, then the melted fat in which the flour has been blended, and the pepper. Cook slowly over a low heat for fifteen minutes, taking care that the milk does not boil. This should serve six people. Devilled Carrots Cook a pound of carrots in a little boiling’ salted water till tender, Drain, réserving a teacupful of the water. Slice up the carrots, and put them into a greased casserole or pie-dish. Make a good white sauce by melting a tablespoon of butter in a little pan, stirring in a dessertspoon of cornflour, or white flour, mixing to a nice paste. Gradually add the teacupful of carrot water, and an equal quantity of milk. Stir and boil until the sauce is smooth. Then add 2 teaspoon of made mustard, a dessertspoon of Worcester sauce, pepper and salt to taste. Some people like a dash of curry also. Pouf the sauce over the carrots, and either serve at once, or brown it first in the oven, or under the griller. Candied Mint Carrots Parboil sufficient washed and scraped carrots, for ten minutes in boiling salted water. Split them down lengthwise, unless very small and young. Arrange a casserole, sprinkle with brown sugar, and finely chopped mint. Dot with generous knobs of butter, or good fat, and bake in a hot oven for half an hour. Brussels Sprout Fritters Just dip them in batter one by one, and fry them in deep — till brown. Drain on paper. Leeks-Yorkshire Scald leeks in boiling water, and strain. Slowly stew in milk till done. When tender, dish up, thicken the liquor

with butter, cornflour, and salt afd pepper. Then stir in, when off the fire, an egg yolk, or a little top milk, Pour over the leeks, atid decorate with tiny rolled rashers of bacon. Scalloped Parsnips Have about a pound of cooked parsnips, mashed with a little butter (or fat), and about 2 tablespoons of top milk; 1 well-beaten egg; pepper and salt to taste. Have also plenty of soft breadcrumbs. Grease a casserole and fill with alternate layers of parsnips and breadcrumbs, finishing with crumbs. Melt one tablespoon of butter or fat in a cup of milk, season with salt and pepper, and pour over all. Bake brown and crisp in a hot oven. Cabbage in Cheese Sauce For this you will need cooked cabbage} a good white sauce, with cheese \to taste. Grease a pie-dish, and place ‘in a layer of sauce, then a layer of cabbage, until the dish is full, making the last layer sauce. Cover with breadcrumbs or flakes, and cook in a brisk oven for 20 minutes. Minced Carrots Mince up sifficient raw carrots, catch. ing all the juice, and put into a casserole. Sprinkle with pepper and salt, dab with knobs of buttter or good clean fat, and add about 2 or 3 tablespoons of hot water. Put lid on and cook in a hot oven. Carrots and Apples This may sound an unusual combination, but it is very good served with roast meat. Scrape and slice 1lb. of carrots; peel and quarter 141b. of apples. Put a teacupful of salted water in* a saucepan, then put in the carrots, and lay the apples on top. Do not stir. Simmer until both are tender, then take out thé apples with a spoon and arrange in the centre of a dish, with the carrots tound them. Keep hot. Thicken the liquid in the pan with a teaspoonful of fine oatmeal, or flour, mixed to a smooth paste with a little water. Add a teaspoon of butter if possible, and a pinch of mixed spice is nice. Boil for five minutes and then pour over the carrots and apples, and serve. Cauliflower Savoury Cook a cauliflower whole, strain carefully. Put the whole cauliflower in a casserole. Fry some onion in butter or bacon fat (or other good fat), sprinkled with curry powder. Add a little sugar, and thicken with cornflour and milk. Pour this curry sauce over the cauliflower, put grated cheese on top, and pop. in the oven until the cheese is melted. Quick Winter Salad Mix a teacupful of grated raw carrot with a teacupful of finely shredded heart of a young cabbage, and a tin of baked beans or peas in tomato sauce.