Vegetable Ragout

Cut six choice, pared potatoes into half-inch cubes; add six sliced leeks, cover with boiling water, let cook ten minutes, then drain. Cut half a bunch of asparagus in inch lengths, and let cook in boiling water about ten minutes; add to the potatoes and leeks. Scald one pint of milk and one-fourth a cup of butter; add half a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of pepper, and pour over the vegetables. Let simmer until all are tender. Turn into a dish and sprinkle with a tablespoonful of fine-chopped parsley,

Succotash

Let dried Lima or kidney beans soak in cold water overnight; drain, wash in fresh water, rinse and drain again. Cover with cold water and let simmer until tender (five hours or longer). Add a teaspoonful of salt, one can of kornlet, one-fourth' a cup of butter and half a teaspoonful of black pepper, also more salt if needed. A little strained tomato puree, also onion juice and chopped peppers, are additions relished by many.

This dish may also be made of green Lima beans and green corn. Unless the hull of the corn be particularly tender, cut down through the center of the rows of kernels lengthwise the ear, then with the back of the knife press out the pulp, leaving the hull on the cob. Green beans will cook very quickly, in less than an hour. Add the corn about five minutes before time of serving.

Parsnips "A La Porno"

Cut scraped parsnips in slices and let boil until tender. Turn about a pint of slices into a baking dish. Have ready a sauce, made of one-fourth a cup, each, of butter and flour and one cup and three-fourths of milk; add half a teaspoonful of salt and pour over the slices; sprinkle grated cheese over all. Bake until the cheese melts.

Lady Cabbage

Cut a cabbage in quarters and remove the hard center from each piece; let boil fifteen minutes, drain, add fresh boiling water and let cook until tender, then set aside to become cold. Chop the cabbage fine. To three cups of the cabbage add three well-beaten eggs, one teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, one tablespoonful of melted butter and three-fourths a cup of rich milk. Mix all together thoroughly and turn into a buttered baking dish. Let cook in the oven surrounded by water (as a custard) until firm in the center. Serve hot from the baking dish.

Lady Cabbage, With Cheese

Prepare as Lady Cabbage, adding from half to a full cup of cheese with the eggs, milk, etc.

Cauliflower Au Gratin In Scallop Shells

Let the cauliflower stand, head downwards, in a dish of cold water to which a tablespoonful of salt has been added, for an hour or longer, to draw out insects that may be concealed within it. Set to cook in boiling, salted water. Cauliflower will cook in from fifteen to thirty minutes. Prepare a cup of white sauce and stir in three or four tablespoonfuls of grated cheese, Parmesan preferred. Separate the cauliflower in flowerets, and dispose these in buttered scallop or other shells. Pour over the sauce, sprinkle with cracker crumbs mixed with melted butter. Set the shells into the oven to brown the crumbs. Serve on individual plates covered with doilies or paper napkins.

Plain, boiled cauliflower is served as an entree with cream, drawn-butter or Hollandaise sauce.

Cauliflower Fried In Batter

Dip flowerets of cooked cauliflower in batter, fry-in deep fat, drain and serve either without sauce or with sauce tartare. The flowerets may be egged-and-crumbed if preferred. Served as a course by itself, the sauce should be provided. Served with the roast, omit the sauce.

For cauliflower supreme and other similar recipes, see Chapter VII.