Part 1

THE BEST VEGETARIAN DISHES I KNOW

“The business of the kitchen’s great, And it is fit that men should eat, Nor was it e’er denied.”

THE BEST VEGETARIAN DISHES I KNOW

BY JEANNE JARDINE

LONDON

J. M. DENT & SONS LTD.

29 AND 30 BEDFORD STREET, W.C.

1910

FOREWORD

“How fair This earth were if all living things be linked Bloodless and pure.”

It will be seen that fish has been excluded from this little volume, because it does not come within the range of legitimate vegetarian fare; although many who “bid adieu to carnal dishes, to solid meats, and highly-spiced ragouts,” give it a prominent place in the daily menu.

I trust those who put the recipes given herein to the test will find they merit the somewhat ambitious title under which they appear. My aim is to suggest dainty and nourishing dishes to vegetarians, which are not extravagant, and which can be easily carried out by the average “good plain” cook. One thing I would ask in this connection is, that the recipe be read through and the intention grasped before operations are begun. It is an interesting fact that the same recipe may give an absolutely different result when followed by two persons, thus proving that in one case or the other--and possibly in both--their methods are at variance with those laid down by the author. It must be borne in mind that fats of various kinds, such as butter--made both from cream and nuts--cream, oil, and cheese, should necessarily take a prominent place in vegetarian fare, and also such complete forms of food as milk and eggs, in order to give it its proper dietetic value.

It is frequently asserted that a vegetarian diet is more costly than a meat diet, but those who adopt it will find that the extra cost of butter, milk, and eggs in a month will compare favourably with the butcher’s bill for the same period.

J. J.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Artichoke Curry 11

Artichoke and Egg Fricassee 11

Artichoke Fritters 12

Artichokes au Gratin 13

Artichokes à la Mornay 14

Artichoke and Potato Pie 14

Artichokes Roasted 15

Artichoke Rissoles 16

Artichoke Soufflé 17

Baked Beans with Spinach and Eggs 19

Baked Eggs with Spaghetti 20

Batter Balls 21

Batter Cassolettes 22

Beans with Egg Fritters 23

Broad Beans and Baked Eggs 24

Broad Beans in Italian Style 25

Butter Beans Moulded 25

Butter Beans in Pastry Case 26

Cabbage Stuffed with Nuts 27

Carrots in Rice Border 29

Cassolettes with Peas 30

Cassolettes of Rice 32

Cauliflower in Batter 33

Cauliflower with Curried Egg Sauce 34

Cauliflower with Egg-Balls 34

Cauliflower Fritters 35

Cauliflower and Tomato Meringue 36

Celeriac Aigrettes 37

Celeriac Cutlets 38

Celeriac and Eggs au Gratin 39

Celery Pie 40

Celery and Macaroni Timbale 40

Cheese Omelet with French Beans 42

Chestnut Curry 43

Chicory Mould with Macaroni 44

Cold Curry Shape 45

Cornets with Celery Cream 46

Cucumber filled with Nut Forcemeat 47

Cucumber Stuffed 48

Cucumber with Poulette Sauce 49

Devilled Nut Fillets 50

Dresden Patties 51

Eggs in Jelly with Cheese Cream 51

Eggs Stuffed with Asparagus 52

Egg Balls in Potato Case 53

Egg Croquettes 55

Eggs in Cucumber Cases 56

Egg Cutlets with Asparagus 57

Egg and Forcemeat Croustades 58

Egg Fritters 59

Egg Patties 60

Eggs Poached and Fried with Tomatoes 61

Eggs Poached and Fried with Vegetable Marrow 62

Eggs Poached with Tomato Sauce 63

Eggs in Potatoes 64

Eggs and Rice 65

Egg Rissoles 66

French Bean Salad 67

Fricassee of Eggs 68

Green Pea Cutlets 69

Macaroni Pie 70

Macaroni Rissoles 72

Mock Oyster Cakes 73

Mushroom Cutlets with Purée of Lettuce 74

Nut Cutlets 75

Nut Fillets Stewed 76

Nut Rissolettes 77

Nut Soufflé 78

Quenelles à la Reine 79

Rice Fritters with Broad Beans 80

Roasted Potatoes with Mushrooms 81

Roman Pie 82

Salsify Omelet 83

Salsify Patties 84

Savoury Macaroni 85

Savoury Mince with Spinach 85

Savoury Pasties 86

Savoury Roll 87

Scalloped Curry 88

Scotch Eggs 89

Spaghetti à l’Italienne 89

Stuffed Potatoes 90

Stuffed Vegetable Marrow 91

Tomato Omelet with Vegetable Salad 92

Tomato Patties 93

Tomato Shape with Peas 94

Tomatoes Stuffed with Macaroni 95

Tomato Soufflé 96

Vegetable Cream with Aigrettes 97

Vegetable Pie 99

Vegetable Steaks 100

Yorkshire Mince 101

Yorkshire Pudding with Mushrooms and Tomatoes 102

SAUCES

Brown Sauce 103

Curry Sauce 104

Dutch Sauce 104

Tomato and Celery Sauce 105

Tomato Sauce 106

White Sauce 106

White Stock 107

THE BEST VEGETARIAN DISHES I KNOW

ARTICHOKE (JAPANESE) CURRY

One pound Stachys (or Japanese artichokes), white vegetable stock, curry sauce.

_Method._--Parboil the little tubers, peel them and finish cooking them until they are tender in the stock, then follow the directions given for Chestnut Curry on page 43.

ARTICHOKE AND EGG FRICASSEE

One pound artichokes, 4 hard-boiled eggs, ³⁄₄ pint white sauce, 2 oz. macaroni, grated cheese, 1 oz. butter, tomato sauce, 1 raw yolk, lemon-juice.

_Method._--Cook the artichokes until they are just tender and cut them into rather thick slices. Then cut as many hard-boiled eggs as are required for the dish (allow one for each person and one over) also into slices, and heat the artichokes and eggs in the white sauce, which should be nicely flavoured and mixed with the raw yolk, beaten up with a teaspoonful of lemon-juice or tarragon vinegar. Place the saucepan containing the fricassee on the stove in a larger pan of boiling water to prevent the sauce from curdling, and stir occasionally. Drain the macaroni, as soon as it has been boiled until it is quite tender, and put it back into the saucepan in which it was cooked, with an ounce of butter, a tablespoonful of tomato sauce and season with salt and pepper. When it is thoroughly coated with the butter and sauce, sprinkle in a large tablespoonful of grated cheese (preferably Parmesan), then make a neat border with it on a hot dish and fill the middle with the fricassee. If a more economical sauce is preferred the yolk of egg and lemon-juice can be omitted.

ARTICHOKE FRITTERS

Jerusalem artichokes, batter, fat, grated cheese.

_Method._--Peel the artichokes and put them into a saucepan containing plenty of boiling, salted water, and let them boil for twenty minutes. Then drain them on a soft cloth and cut them, on a floured board, into moderately thick slices; have ready prepared a light, thick batter, and also a pan of deep, boiling fat; dip the pieces of artichoke into the batter and drop them into the fat and let them cook until they are a golden brown. Serve the fritters piled upon a hot dish with a little grated Parmesan (or Cheddar) cheese scattered over them.

ARTICHOKES AU GRATIN

Jerusalem artichokes, white sauce, grated cheese, butter, dried breadcrumbs.

_Method._--Peel some artichokes and with a vegetable cutter shape them into little balls (the size of a large marble) and cook them in salted water until they begin to get tender, then drain them at once and put them into a saucepan containing some warm butter (dairy or nut butter may be used), which has been seasoned with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a few drops of lemon-juice; cover the pan and let them simmer for about ten minutes. Prepare a thick white sauce (see recipe on page 106) and add a tablespoonful of mild, grated cheese to each half pint; pour a small quantity of the sauce over a buttered gratin dish and arrange the artichokes in it, then cover them with the remainder of the sauce; pour the remains of the butter in which the artichokes were cooked over the top and scatter over it a moderately thick layer of finely sifted, dried bread-crumbs mixed with half the quantity of grated cheese, and bake in a quick oven until evenly browned. If the flavour of onion is not objected to, a small, well-boiled Spanish onion passed through a sieve and added to the sauce is an improvement to the dish.

ARTICHOKES (JAPANESE) À LA MORNAY

One pound of artichokes, ³⁄₄ pint white sauce, 1 tablespoonful cream, 1 oz. grated Gruyère, 1 oz. grated Parmesan cheese, ¹⁄₂ lb. short paste, vegetable stock.

_Method._--Parboil the little artichokes, remove the skins and finish cooking them in vegetable stock. Line a buttered pastry ring with the paste (about a quarter of an inch thick) and fill it with some uncooked rice, or split peas, wrapped in greased paper and bake in a quick oven until it is very lightly coloured. Then take it out and remove the filling and turn the case carefully from the ring on to a baking sheet; fill it with the artichokes (taking care they are thoroughly drained), pour the sauce over them and put the case back into a fairly quick oven until the surface of the sauce is lightly browned. The sauce should be quite thick and after taking it from the stove, stir in the tablespoonful of cream and the grated cheese and use as directed.

ARTICHOKE AND POTATO PIE

Four globe artichokes, 1¹⁄₂ lbs. salad potatoes (which are close and firm), 2 hard-boiled eggs, seasoning, ¹⁄₂ pint nicely-flavoured brown sauce (thick), a dessertspoonful tomato catsup, 2 mushrooms, parsley, onion, ¹⁄₂ lb. short paste.

_Method._--Boil some globe artichokes in the usual way and remove all the leaves and the “choke” and cut the remaining portion into quarters; cook also the peeled salad potatoes, taking them from the fire directly they are tender, and cut them into moderately thick slices; mince two good sized mushrooms and mix them with a large dessertspoonful of chopped parsley and a teaspoonful of scalded onion, which has been minced. Line a buttered pie-dish with the short paste, which should be fairly thin, then fill it with layers of the artichokes and potatoes (mixed) with a few pieces of hard boiled egg, cut in quarters, and over each layer scatter some of the mushroom mixture and season with salt, pepper, and a very little mixed spice. When the dish is full pour in the sauce, mixed with the tomato catsup; then cover the pie, brush it over with some beaten egg (or milk) and bake in a fairly quick oven for one hour.

ARTICHOKES ROASTED

Jerusalem artichokes, palmine (vegetable butter), seasoning.

_Method._--Wash, peel, and trim the artichokes and throw them as they are done into a basin of cold acidulated water (produced by the addition of a small quantity of vinegar or lemon-juice), then dry them on a cloth and put them into a baking tin containing some warm palmine, sprinkle a little salt, pepper, and nutmeg over the artichokes and bake them in a well-heated oven until they are evenly browned, which should be in about three quarters of an hour. They should be basted frequently, and if the heat is fierce, a piece of greased paper should be placed over them until they are nearly done; drain the artichokes on soft paper on taking them from the fat, scatter a little chopped parsley over them, and serve with a dish of spaghetti à l’Italienne.

ARTICHOKE (JAPANESE) RISSOLES

Half a pound of artichokes, 1¹⁄₂ gills very thick white sauce, 2 ozs. dry, powdered breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoonful lemon-juice, 1 whole egg and 1 yolk, puffed potatoes.

_Method._--Prepare and cook the artichokes as in the recipe for Artichokes à la Mornay, and when they are quite tender, drain them thoroughly and cut them up into small pieces, have the sauce ready, add the yolk of a raw egg to it, which has been beaten up with the lemon-juice, and ascertain that it has sufficient seasoning, then mix the artichokes with it and spread them out on a flat dish to get cold. Take about a dessertspoonful of the mixture at a time, and form it on a floured board into little balls; dip them into beaten egg, then cover thickly with the breadcrumbs, and after allowing time for them to dry, fry the rissoles in deep, boiling fat. The sauce should be well flavoured with vegetables and finished with a little cream if practicable. Serve the rissoles round a pyramid of puffed potatoes and garnish with fried parsley. The potatoes should be prepared thus: Peel them and cut them length-wise into rather thick strips, then into dice-shaped squares, and put them into a basin of cold water for about fifteen minutes, then drain them and dry them thoroughly in a soft cloth. Melt sufficient fat (or oil) in a stewpan to cover the potatoes; when it is hot (not boiling) put them in and let them cook gently until they are tender; then take them out and make the fat boil, testing it with a piece of bread to ascertain when the right temperature is reached. Put the potatoes into the boiling fat and fry them quickly for a few minutes, when they will puff up and become a golden brown; drain them on paper and scatter some chopped parsley and salt over them.

ARTICHOKE SOUFFLÉ

Two ounces butter, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. flour, ¹⁄₂ pint milk, 2 eggs, ¹⁄₂ pint sieved artichokes, 1 dessertspoonful grated cheese, lemon-juice, salt, pepper, nutmeg, curry powder.

_Method._--Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour gradually; when a smooth paste is formed, pour in the milk by degrees, stirring quickly all the time with a wooden spoon to prevent lumps forming, and continue the stirring until a perfectly smooth, thick sauce is made. Remove the saucepan from the fire and add the yolks of the eggs, beating one into the sauce before adding the other; then stir in the cheese (preferably Parmesan), a squeeze of lemon-juice, and season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a small saltspoonful of curry powder. Have ready some well-boiled Jerusalem artichokes which have been passed through a sieve, add a liberal half pint to the soufflé mixture, and then stir in lightly the whites of the eggs, whisked to the stiffest froth which can be obtained, and pour at once into a buttered china soufflé mould. Smooth the surface of the soufflé and pour a tablespoonful of warm butter over it and sprinkle it with dried breadcrumbs, which have been pounded and sieved, and bake at once in rather a quick oven for half an hour. Serve the soufflé with Brussels sprouts prepared as follows: Cook the sprouts in plenty of boiling water, seasoned with salt and two or three lumps of sugar, add a little piece of soda to improve the colour, and leave the cover off so that the steam may escape. Directly they are tender, turn the sprouts into a colander and then drain them on a cloth and put them into a hot pipkin. Melt half an ounce of butter in a small saucepan, add salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a dust (each) of castor sugar and curry powder and a teaspoonful of lemon-juice; pour the butter over the sprouts and leave them in the oven for a minute or two before sending them to the table.

BAKED BEANS WITH SPINACH AND EGGS

Some red haricot beans, a small onion, a few pieces of celery, tomato sauce (recipe, page 106), spinach, eggs (allowing one for each person), butter, seasoning.

_Method._--Soak the beans over night, wash them and put them into a saucepan of cold, salted water; as soon as it has boiled rapidly pour off the water and fill up the saucepan with boiling water, adding the onion, celery, and salt, pepper and nutmeg, and let the beans boil gently until the skins will break easily. Then turn them into a colander and remove the skins; melt an ounce or two of butter (a liberal quantity should be allowed) in an earthenware pipkin; put in the beans, pour the tomato sauce over them, cover closely (tying a piece of greased paper over the top if the lid does not fit well) and stand the pipkin in a pan of hot water in a moderately hot oven for five hours, replenishing the water when necessary and adding a little more sauce if it is required. Butter as many china egg poachers as are needed and break a new-laid egg into each, scatter a little salt and pepper over the top and place the poachers in a shallow pan of boiling water in the oven and let the eggs cook until they are sufficiently set to turn out. Make a border of carefully prepared spinach on a hot dish, place the eggs at intervals on it, and fill the middle with the baked beans; a little powdered parsley sprinkled over the eggs will add to the dainty appearance of the dish. The water in which the beans are cooked should be saved as it would be a good foundation for various vegetable soups or sauces.

BAKED EGGS WITH SPAGHETTI

As many eggs as are required for a dish, chopped parsley, lemon-thyme, minced shallot, breadcrumbs, seasoning, 3 or 4 tomatoes, 3 ozs. spaghetti, butter, 2 ozs. mild, grated cheese, watercress.

_Method._--Butter as many china ramekin cases as there are eggs; mix some chopped parsley, a very little lemon-thyme and a small quantity of shallot with some fine white breadcrumbs; season with salt, pepper, and a little curry powder, and sprinkle the mixture thickly over the inside of the cases. Break one egg at a time into a coffee cup, and turn it carefully into one of the ramekins; pour a teaspoonful of warm butter over the top and cover with the remains of the herb mixture and bake at once in a hot oven until the whites of the eggs are set. Have ready the tomatoes cut in half and fried; turn the eggs from the cups and put one on each piece of tomato and arrange them round a hot dish with spaghetti, prepared as follows, in the middle and garnish with watercress. Cook the spaghetti in boiling, salted water until it is tender, then drain it well and put it into a saucepan containing two ounces of warm butter; season it with salt and black pepper, and scatter in the cheese (preferably Parmesan) by degrees while turning the spaghetti lightly and quickly with a fork, and serve at once.

BATTER BALLS

Two ounces of butter, 1¹⁄₂ gills water, ¹⁄₂ lb. dry, sifted flour, 2 eggs, 2 yolks, seasoning, grated Parmesan, sea-kale, celery, or cauliflower, white sauce.

_Method._--Put the water into a stewpan with the butter; as soon as it boils draw the pan to the side of the stove and add the flour, by degrees, stirring quickly all the time with a wooden spoon, and when it is all worked in, a perfectly smooth paste should result. Continue the stirring for a few minutes until the paste is sufficiently dry to leave the sides of the pan, then remove it from the stove and let it cool a little, but it must not get cold; add the eggs, beating one into the paste before putting in the second, then add two more yolks in the same way and season well with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. The paste should now be sufficiently stiff to roll into little balls on a floured board, allowing a heaped teaspoonful for each. When it has all been used, drop a few at a time into a pan of deep fat, which is just under boiling point, taking care to remove them directly they are a golden colour; the temperature must be slightly reduced each time before more little balls are put in, but the pan may be moved to a hotter part of the stove after they have been in a minute or two. Drain the little balls on paper, sprinkle some grated Parmesan over them and serve them with braised sea-kale, or it may be plainly boiled and masked with white sauce; celery or cauliflower would be equally suitable if sea-kale is not available.

BATTER CASSOLETTES

One pint young, shelled peas, mint, ¹⁄₄ pint thick white sauce, ¹⁄₄ lb. flour, 1¹⁄₂ tablespoonfuls salad oil, 2 eggs.