TOMATOES STUFFED WITH MACARONI
Six medium-sized tomatoes, 2 ozs. macaroni, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, 1 oz. flour, quarter pint cream (or milk), 1 oz. grated cheese, seasoning, breadcrumbs, vegetable stock.
Six medium-sized tomatoes, 2 ozs. macaroni, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, 1 oz. flour, quarter pint cream (or milk), 1 oz. grated cheese, seasoning, breadcrumbs, vegetable stock.
Method.—Cut a small piece from the tomatoes, carefully remove all the seeds, and leave them on a sieve to drain for some time before they have to be filled. Break the macaroni into small pieces and cook it in boiling vegetable stock until it is quite tender, then drain it well. Melt one ounce of butter and mix the flour with it until a smooth paste is formed, then add the cream and stir quickly until the sauce is quite thick; remove the pan from the stove and add the cheese, seasoning, and macaroni, and fill the tomatoes with it; cover the top with breadcrumbs, put a little piece of butter on each, and bake in a fairly quick oven until the tomatoes are cooked, but they should not be allowed to lose their shape. Serve them round a mound of potatoes prepared thus: Select some rather close potatoes (the floury kind would not be suitable), and after peeling them cut them into thin slices and leave them in cold water for about a quarter of an hour, then dry them on a soft cloth. Butter a china soufflé mould (or a basin will do) and put in a layer of the potatoes; sprinkle a little salt, pepper, and nutmeg (not too much of the latter) over them, and put a few little pieces of butter on the top; then add the remainder of the potatoes in the same way,layer by layer, and when the mould is full tie a buttered paper over it, place an enamelled plate on the top of the paper, and stand the mould in a pan of hot water in a moderately quick oven for fully an hour. Half an hour before the potatoes are done pour a small quantity (a quarter of a pint to a pint mould) of milk over them, then replace the paper, and let them finish cooking. When ready, turn the potatoes out of the mould (they will be a compact mass) and sprinkle some chopped parsley over the top.