Part 2

1 lb. green or wax beans 1/4 onion A sprig of parsley A piece of celery 2 tablespoons oil or butter substitute 1 tablespoon flour 1 cup milk 3 eggs Grated cheese

String the beans. Blanch them by throwing them into boiling water. As soon as the water has boiled again drain the beans and plunge them into cold water. Fry the finely chopped onion, parsley and celery in a tablespoon of oil. When the onion is a golden color add the beans and let them absorb the oil. Add just enough water to keep them from burning until the beans have simmered tender.

Make a white sauce of the milk, flour and one tablespoon of oil. Beat the eggs. Let the beans and sauce cool a little. Then add the eggs, beans and a few tablespoons of grated cheese to the white sauce. Pour into a buttered mould. Bake or steam as a custard until firm, and serve hot.

Peas are good cooked in the same way. Canned peas and beans may be used. This makes a very satisfactory luncheon dish.

MOULD OF SPINACH

_Stampa di Spinaci_

1 cup milk 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon flour Grated cheese 2 cups boiled spinach 3 eggs Brown stock Salt, pepper

Make a smooth white sauce of the milk, butter and flour. Let it cook until it is thick and the flour is thoroughly cooked. Add to the sauce the spinach (drained, rinsed and chopped very fine) a few tablespoons of grated cheese, two eggs beaten, a few tablespoons of brown stock (or a bouillon cube dissolved in a little hot water) and salt. Mix thoroughly and pour into a buttered mould. Steam as a custard until it is firm. Brown stock or tomato sauce may be poured over this, but it is excellent served hot just as it is. For the recipes for _Brown Stock_ and _Tomato Sauce_ see pages 7 and 23.

_Pensione Santa Caterina, Siena._

[Sidenote: _Eggs_]

EGGS ALL' AURORA

1 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil 1 cup milk 1 tablespoon flour 3 eggs Salt and pepper

Hard boil the eggs. Make a white sauce of the flour, milk and butter. Be sure to cook it thoroughly. Add the whites of the eggs diced very fine. Pour this out on a platter and cover with the yolks forced through a sieve or potato ricer.

_Pensione Santa Caterina, Siena._

TOMATOES WITH EGGS

5 or 6 ripe tomatoes of equal size 5 or 6 eggs White sauce or brown gravy

Peel the tomatoes. Cut a slice from the top of each, and scoop out the core. Break a raw egg into each and replace the top. Put in a baking dish and bake until the eggs are set. Serve with a cream sauce or brown gravy.

[Sidenote: _Corn Meal Dishes_]

CORN MEAL LOAF

_Pasticcio di Polenta_

Yellow cornmeal Dried mushrooms[3] Parmesan cheese[3] Butter Cream Salt

The day before this dish is to be served, cook cornmeal very thoroughly with only enough water to make it very stiff. Turn out to cool in just the shape of the dish in which it has cooked.

Next day take this same dish, butter it and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Cut the mould of cornmeal in horizontal slices about 1/4 inch thick. Lay the top slice in the bottom of the dish where it fits. Dot with two or three small pieces of butter and three or four dried mushrooms which have had boiling water poured over them and soaked some time. Moisten with cream and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Repeat slice by slice until the shape is complete. On the last slice put only two dots of butter.

Put in a moderate oven and bake three hours. If at the end of this time there should be too much liquid on top pour this off to use for the seasoning of some other dish, such as spaghetti, rice or noodles, and continue cooking until the liquid ceases to ooze.

[3] See Suggestions, page 5.

POLENTA PIE

_Polenta Pasticciata_

1 cup yellow corn meal 1 cup milk 1 tablespoon cornstarch Grated cheese Bolognese Sauce[4] Salt 1 tablespoon cooking oil or butter

Make a very stiff mush of the cornmeal. Salt it well and when it is cooked spread it out to cool on a bread board in a sheet about an inch thick. Make a smooth white sauce of the milk, cornstarch and butter. Prepare the _Bolognese Sauce_ according to its recipe. When the cornmeal is cold slice it down in half inch slices and cut into diamonds or squares. Butter a baking dish. Put in a layer of the cornmeal, sprinkle it with cheese and a few tablespoons each of the white sauce and the meat sauce. Repeat until the dish is full. Bake until the top is nicely browned. This seems like an elaborate dish, but it is very delicious and a meal in itself.

[4] See page 23.

[Sidenote: _Spaghetti and Other Pastas_]

GNOCCHI OF FARINA OR CORNMEAL

_Gnocchi alla Romana_

1 pint of milk, or half milk and half water 1/2 cup farina or cornmeal Butter and grated cheese 1 egg Salt

Let the milk come to a boil, salt it and add the farina gradually, stirring constantly so it will not become lumpy. Take from the fire and add a tablespoon of butter and several tablespoons of grated cheese, also the egg slightly beaten. Mix well and spread out on a moulding board in a sheet about 3/4 inch thick. When it is cold cut it in squares or diamonds. Put a layer of these on a shallow baking dish or platter that has been buttered. Sprinkle with cheese and dot with butter. Make another layer and so on until the dish is filled. Bake in the oven until the crust is well browned.

SPAGHETTI WITH ANCHOVIES

3/4 lb. spaghetti 5 medium sized anchovies[5] Olive oil Canned tomatoes

Put the anchovies into a colander and dip quickly into boiling water to loosen the skins, and remove the salt. Skin and bone them. Chop them and put over the fire in a sauce-pan with a generous quantity of oil and some pepper. Do not let them boil, but when they are hot add two tablespoons of butter and three or four tablespoons of concentrated tomato juice made by cooking down canned tomatoes and rubbing through a sieve. Boil the spaghetti in water that is only slightly salted and take care not to let it become too soft. Drain thoroughly and put it into the hot dish in which it is to be served. Pour the sauce over the spaghetti, and if you have left the latter unbroken in the Italian style mix by lifting the spaghetti with two silver forks until sauce has gone all through it. Serve with grated cheese.

[5] See Suggestions, page 5.

SPAGHETTI ALLA NAPOLITANA

1/2 lb. round steak 1/4 lb. salt pork or bacon 1 small onion A clove of garlic 1 tablespoon butter or substitute A few dried mushrooms, if desired Several sprigs parsley Fresh or canned tomatoes

Grind the salt pork and try it out in a saucepan. While it is frying put the onion through the grinder. As soon as the pork begins to brown add the onion, the parsley chopped, the garlic shredded fine, and the mushrooms which have been softened by soaking in warm water. When the vegetables are very brown (great care must be taken not to burn the onion, which scorches very easily) add the meat ground coarsely or cut up in little cubes. When the meat is a good brown color, add about one pint of tomatoes and simmer slowly until all has cooked down to a thick creamy sauce. It will probably take 3/4 hour. The sauce may be bound together with a little flour if it shows a tendency to separate.

This sauce is used to dress all kinds of macaroni and spaghetti, also for boiled rice. Spaghetti should be left unbroken when it is cooked. If it is too long to fit in the kettle immerse one end in the boiling salted water and in a very few minutes the ends of the spaghetti under the water will become softened so that the rest can be pushed down into the kettle. Be careful not to overcook it and it will not be pasty, but firm and tender. Drain it carefully and put in a hot soup tureen. Sprinkle a handful of grated cheese over it and pour on the sauce. Lift with two forks until thoroughly mixed.

NOODLES OR HOME MADE PASTE

_Tagliatelli o Pasta Fatta in Casa_

The best and most tender paste is made simply of eggs and flour and salt. Water may be substituted for part of the eggs, for economy, or when a less rich paste is needed. Allow about a cup of flour to an egg. Put the flour on a bread board, make a hole in the middle and break in the egg. Use any extra whites that are on hand. Work it with a fork until it is firm enough to work with the hands. Knead it thoroughly, adding more flour if necessary, until you have a paste you can roll out. Roll it as thin as a ten cent piece. If the sheet of paste is too large to handle with an ordinary rolling pin, a broom handle which has been sawed off, scrubbed and sandpapered, will serve in lieu of the long Italian rolling pin.

This paste may be cut in ribbons to be cooked in soup as _Tagliatelli_, or cut in squares or circles and filled with various mixtures to make _Cappelletti_, _Ravioli_, etc.

Any bits that are left or become too dry to work may be made into a ball and kept for some time to be grated into soup, in which it makes an excellent thickening.

RAVIOLI

1/4 lb. curds or soft cottage cheese 1/2 cup cooked spinach or beet greens 1 egg Nutmeg Salt Grated cheese

Drain and chop the greens. Mix well with the curds, egg, a little grated cheese, salt and nutmeg. Make a paste such as that described in the recipe for _Pasta fatta in Casa_, page 20. Roll out this paste very thin and mark it off in two or three inch squares. Place a spoonful of the mixture on each square. Fold together diagonally. Moisten the edges with the finger dipped in cold water, to make them stick together, and press them down with the fingers or the tines of a fork. Another method is to put the spoonfuls of the mixture in a row two inches from the edge of the paste and two inches apart. Fold over the edge of the paste. Cut off the whole strip thus formed, and cut into squares with the mixture in the middle of each square.

Boil these _ravioli_ in salted water, being careful not to break them open. Drain and serve with a tomato sauce containing mushrooms[6], either fresh ones, or the dried mushrooms soaked and simmered until tender. Arrange the _ravioli_ on a platter, pour the hot sauce over them and finish with a sprinkling of grated cheese.

[6] See page 23.

RAVIOLI WITH MEAT

_Ravioli alla Genovese_

1 cup cooked meat, veal, chicken, turkey or giblets 1 small slice cooked ham 1/2 cup spinach 1 egg Grated cheese, nutmeg, salt

Chop the meat and spinach fine and work to a stiff mixture with the egg. Season with cheese, nutmeg and salt to taste. Enclose in little squares of the home made paste described above, and cook and serve as in the preceding recipe for _Ravioli_.

NOODLES WITH HAM

_Tagliatelle col Presciutto_

Noodles A slice of ham, fat & lean Oil or butter Carrot Celery Tomato paste[7]

Cut the ham into little pieces. Chop carrot and celery to equal the ham in quantity. Put them all on the fire with some butter. When the mixture is brown add a few tablespoons of tomato paste dissolved in a cup of hot water.

Cook the noodles in water that is only slightly salted. Drain and dress with the sauce and grated cheese. The quantities to use in the sauce must be determined by the amount of noodles to be cooked.

[7] See Suggestions, page 5.

[Sidenote: _Sauces_]

BOLOGNESE SAUCE FOR MACARONI

_Maccheroni alla Bolognese_

1/4 lb. raw round steak A slice of salt pork or bacon (2 oz.) 1 tablespoon butter or substitute 1 pint hot water or broth 1 small carrot 1/4 onion 1 large piece celery 1/2 tablespoon flour Pepper, nutmeg if desired

Chop the meat and vegetables fine and put them over the fire with the butter. When the meat has browned add the flour and wet the mixture with hot water or broth, allowing it to simmer from half an hour to an hour. It is done when it is the consistency of a thick gravy.

This is enough sauce for 1 lb. of macaroni or spaghetti. Dried mushrooms are a good addition to this sauce. They may be soaked, drained and chopped with other vegetables. This sauce forms the basis for the dish of scalloped cornmeal called _Polenta Pasticciata_.

TOMATO SAUCE

_Salsa di Pomidoro_

Pellegrino Artusi, the inimitable author of that droll yet practical manual of cooking SCIENCE IN THE KITCHEN AND THE ART OF EATING WELL (La Scienza in Cucina e l'Arte di mangiar bene) has the following to say about tomato sauce.

"There was once a good old priest in a village of the Romagna who stuck his nose into everything; in every family circle and in every domestic affair he wanted to have his finger in the pie. Aside from this he was a kindly old party and as his zeal was the source of more good than bad people let him go his way; but the wiseacres dubbed him Don Pomidoro (Sir Tomato) to indicate that tomatoes enter into everything; therefore a good tomato sauce is an invaluable aid in cooking."

Chop fine together a quarter of an onion, a clove of garlic, a piece of celery as long as your finger, a few bay leaves and just parsley enough. Season with a little oil, salt and pepper, cut up seven or eight tomatoes and put everything over the fire together. Stir it from time to time and when you see the juice condensing into a thin custard strain it through a sieve, and it is ready for use."

This sauce serves many purposes. It is good on boiled meat; excellent to dress macaroni, spaghetti or other pastes which have been seasoned with butter and cheese, or on boiled rice seasoned in the same way. Mushrooms are a great addition to it.

WHITE SAUCE FOR BOILED ASPARAGUS OR CAULIFLOWER

_Salsa Bianca_

1 tablespoon flour or cornstarch 1/4 cup butter 1 tablespoon vinegar Salt and pepper 1/2 cup water or soup stock Yolk of 1 egg

Melt half the butter, add the flour and cook until it begins to brown. Add the water slowly, stirring meanwhile, the vinegar and the rest of the butter. Take from the fire and add the beaten egg yolk. This sauce should be smooth like a thin custard.

PIQUANT SAUCE

_Salsa Piccante_

2 sardines or anchovies A bunch of parsley 1/4 of a small onion Garlic Lemon juice Vinegar Olive oil Salt, pepper

Wash, skin and bone the anchovies. Chop the parsley very fine with the onion. Rub a bowl with the cut side of a clove of garlic. Put in the anchovies and rub to a paste. Add the parsley and onion, a tablespoon each of lemon juice and vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Stir the mixture until it is smooth and thick. Capers may be added by way of variety. This is delicious as a sauce for plain boiled meat or fish.

_Signorina Cornelia Cuniberti._

[Sidenote: _Fish_]

SALMON ALLA FIORENTINA

2 lbs. fresh salmon A sprig of parsley 2 cloves garlic A bit of sage A bay leaf 1 egg Flour Salt, pepper Mayonnaise Oil for frying

Boil the piece of salmon for half an hour with the parsley, garlic, sage and bay leaf. Bone and roll into fillets 3/4 inch thick. If the fish has boiled very tender it may be necessary to tie the fillets in shape with string or strips of cheese cloth. Dip in beaten egg, then in flour, salt and pepper. Sauté a delicate brown. Serve with oil mayonnaise. The white from the egg used in the mayonnaise may serve for dipping the fillets if only a small piece of salmon is cooked.

CODFISH "STUFATO"

_Stufato di Baccala_

1 cup codfish, flaked or picked to pieces with a fork 4 tablespoons cooking oil Several sprigs parsley Tomato paste[8] Pepper, hot water

Freshen and soak the codfish in cold water, changing the water two or three times. Heat the oil, with the parsley finely chopped. Add the tomato paste, pepper and enough water to make sufficient liquid to cover the fish. Add the fish and let it simmer over a slow fire until it is done.

_Signorina Irene Merlani._

[8] See Suggestions, page 5.

CODFISH CROQUETTES

_Cotolette di Baccala_

1 lb. salt codfish 2 anchovies[9] A sprig of parsley Grated cheese 2 eggs 1/2 cup breadcrumbs 1 tablespoon butter Pepper

Flake the codfish and put it on the fire in cold water. When it has come to a boil remove from fire and drain. Clean the anchovies and chop them together with the codfish and parsley. Add enough hot water to the bread crumbs and butter to moisten thoroughly. Mix with the other ingredients Form into croquettes and dip into egg and crumbs and fry in deep fat.

Serve with tomato sauce or simply garnish with lemon.

[9] See Suggestions, page 5.

[Sidenote: _Meats_]

FRIED CHIPPED VEAL

_Frittura Piccata_

Veal Flour Butter 1 tablespoon vinegar Chopped parsley Salt and pepper

Take any piece of veal and slice it as thin as possible in small irregular slices like chipped beef. Roll in flour, put butter in frying pan; when hot add the vinegar and stir hard. Lay in the slices of veal and sprinkle salt, pepper and chopped parsley over it. sauté first on one side, then on the other, turning each piece separately. Serve hot with its own butter and vinegar sauce poured over it.

_Mme. Varesi._

SCALLOPED MEAT

_Piatto di Carne Avanzata_

Any left over meat Onions Tomatoes, fresh or canned Flour Butter or butter substitute Sifted bread crumbs Salt Pepper

Into the bottom of a baking dish put a layer of thinly sliced onion, salt, pepper, a sprinkling of flour and a few dots of butter, then a layer of the cooked meat sliced very thin, another layer of onion and seasoning, and then one of meat, moistening it occasionally with a tablespoon of soup stock or hot water in which a bouillon cube has been dissolved. Repeat this until the dish is nearly full. Last put in a layer of raw tomatoes (canned tomatoes may be made to serve the purpose) and cover the top with bread crumbs, salt, pepper and bits of butter. Bake in the oven for one-half hour.

_Signorina Irene Merlani._

MEAT SOUFFLÉ

_Flam di Carne Avanzata_

1 cup cold boiled or roast meat chopped fine 1 oz. butter 1 tablespoon flour Grated cheese, to taste 1 pint of milk 2 eggs Salt, pepper

Make the butter, flour and milk into a white sauce by melting the butter, cooking the flour in it until the mixture bubbles and begins to brown, then adding the milk and cooking until it is smooth. Let this cool. Brown the meat in a saucepan with a little fat or drippings, salt and pepper. Take it from the fire and add the white sauce and the eggs well beaten. Season with grated cheese, salt and pepper. Butter a mould and sprinkle it with bread crumbs, fill with the mixture and steam or bake as a custard for an hour. Serve with any good meat or tomato sauce.

_Signorina Irene Merlani._

MEAT OMELETTE

_Polpettone_

Cold boiled meat An egg Bread crumbs Butter, hot water

Chop or grind cold boiled meat and form into an oval cake after mixing it with enough slightly beaten egg and bread crumbs (soaked in hot water and seasoned with butter) to make it hold its shape. Sauté on one side in a frying pan. To turn it use a plate or cover so as not to break it. Sauté on the other side. Lift it from the pan and with the fat remaining in the pan make a gravy to pour over it, which may be enriched by the addition of a beaten egg and a dash of lemon juice just as it is taken from the fire.

A _Polpettone_ from left over soup meat often forms the second course to a meal, the first course of which has been the soup made from this meat with vegetables or macaroni cooked in it.

STEW OF BEEF OR VEAL WITH MACARONI

_Stufato di Vitello con Maccheroni_

1-1/2 lbs. beef or veal suitable for stewing 1/4 cup vegetable oil or shortening 1 cup broth or sour milk 2 large onions Salt Pepper

Cut the meat into little pieces and season each piece with salt and pepper. Chop the onions very fine or put them through the meat grinder, and fry them brown in the fat. Put in the meat and let it cook until it has absorbed all the fat and is slightly browned. Add the broth or milk and let it cook over a moderate fire.

As a vegetable with this stew serve macaroni boiled, drained and seasoned with tomato sauce[10] and butter.

_Signorina Irene Merlani._

[10] See page 5.

PIGEONS IN CORNMEAL

_Piccioni con Polenta_

Pigeons Butter Chopped onion Stock, or boiling water and bouillon cubes Sage Yellow cornmeal Salt, pepper

Make a stiff cornmeal mush, thoroughly cooked. Cut the pigeons in quarters or even smaller pieces. Brown them in butter with salt, pepper and a little chopped onion. Cover with stock, add a bit of sage and stew slowly for an hour and a half. If the birds are young less time will do.

Line a round dish with the mush, hollowed out. Lay the pigeons with their sauce inside of this and serve hot.

SMOTHERED CHICKEN

_Stufato di Pollo_

A chicken (this is an excellent way to cook a tough fowl) 4 oz. fat, half butter and half lard, or any substitute 1 cup tomatoes stewed down and put through a sieve 1 carrot 1 onion Boiling water 1 stalk celery

Cut up the chicken, rub it with the lard and brown it in the other half of the fat. Add the strained tomato, then the finely chopped onion, finally the carrot and celery cut into small pieces, and season with salt and pepper. Let it simmer slowly until perfectly tender, adding hot water enough to keep it moist, from time to time, as the strained tomato cooks away.

_Signorina Irene Merlani._

CHICKEN ALLA CACCIATORA

_Pollo alla Cacciatora_

A chicken 1 pint fresh or canned tomatoes 1/4 lb. fat salt pork or bacon Flour 6 sweet green peppers 2 or 3 medium sized onions

Grind or chop the salt pork and put in a large frying pan with the onions sliced thin. Fry the onions slowly and carefully until they are golden brown. Skim them out. Cut up the chicken, sprinkle the pieces with flour, salt and pepper, and sauté in the fat which remains in the frying pan. When the chicken is brown add the tomatoes and green peppers and put back the onions. When the vegetables have cooked down to a thick gravy keep adding enough hot water to prevent their burning. Cover the pan tightly and simmer until the chicken is very tender. This an excellent way to cook tough chickens. Fowls which have been boiled may be cooked in this way, but of course young and tender chickens will have the finer flavor.

BOILED FOWL WITH RICE

_Lesso di Pollo col Riso_

1/2 lb. rice A fowl suitable for boiling Salt and pepper 1 egg Butter Grated cheese

Cut up the fowl and boil until it is tender. Wash the rice and blanch it by letting it come to a boil and cook a few minutes in salted water. Finish cooking it in the broth from the boiled fowl. Do not cook it too long or it will be mushy. Add the broth a little at a time to be sure the rice is not too wet when it is done. Season with cheese and butter and add the egg yolk to bind it just as it is taken from the fire. Serve as a border around the fowl.

STUFFING FOR ROAST CHICKEN OR TURKEY

_Ripieno_

2 small link sausages Giblets of the fowl 1 cup dry breadcrumbs 1 tablespoon drippings 1 egg A few dried mushrooms[11] Nutmeg Very little salt and pepper 8 or 10 large roasted chestnuts

Brown the sausages and giblets in drippings. Add a cup of boiling water and simmer until cooked. Skim them from their broth and put the bread crumbs to soak in it. Skin the sausages and chop or grind them together with the giblets, chestnuts and the mushrooms which have been washed and soaked in warm water. Mix thoroughly with the bread crumbs. Add more bread crumbs or hot water if it is not the right consistency. Double the quantity for a turkey. This dressing is very nice sliced cold.

[11] See Suggestions, page 5.

[Sidenote: _Sweets_]

CHOCOLATE PUDDING

_Budino di Cioccolata_

2 cups milk 3 eggs 1-1/2 squares unsweetened chocolate 1/4 cup sugar 3 oz. ground macaroons