VEGETABLE CREAM WITH AIGRETTES
Half a peck young peas (cooked and sieved), 1 teaspoonful very finely minced onion (previously scalded), 1 oz. butter, 1 oz. flour, ¹⁄₄ pint milk, 1 teaspoonful tomato catsup, 1 tablespoonful grated Parmesan cheese, seasoning, chopped mint, ³⁄₄ pint aspic jelly, 1 gill stiffly whipped cream.
Half a peck young peas (cooked and sieved), 1 teaspoonful very finely minced onion (previously scalded), 1 oz. butter, 1 oz. flour, ¹⁄₄ pint milk, 1 teaspoonful tomato catsup, 1 tablespoonful grated Parmesan cheese, seasoning, chopped mint, ³⁄₄ pint aspic jelly, 1 gill stiffly whipped cream.
Method.—Cook the onion in the butter with a little finely chopped mint (the quantity should depend on whether the flavour is liked) for a few moments, then stir in the flour, and when it is smoothly mixed add the milk and continue to stir until a very thick sauce is formed; season it with a little salt and pepper, rub it through a gravy-strainer into the basin containing the sieved peas,and mix well. Then add the tomato catsup and Parmesan cheese and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg; whisk one and a half gills of cool aspic jelly until it is quite white, add the whipped cream to it, and then the prepared peas, by degrees, and as soon as the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, pour the cream into a mould which has been lined with aspic jelly and leave until the following day, when it should be turned out and served with aigrettes, made according to the directions given below. If the peas are carefully cooked in an uncovered pan they should produce a bright green purée, but should the colour not be good a few drops of vegetable greening must be added. The cream may be iced with advantage.
For the Aigrettes.—Put one ounce of butter into a small saucepan with half a pint of cold water; when it boils, draw the pan to the side of the stove and stir in, gradually, four ounces of flour, and continue to stir until a smooth and very thick paste is formed, which leaves the sides of the pan and collects round the spoon in the middle; then take the pan from the stove and, when the mixture has cooled a little, beat two whole eggs and an additional yolk into it, adding each separately, and when these are mixed stir in three ounces of dry, grated cheese (preferably Parmesan and Gruyère mixed) and season with salt, white pepper, and a little curry powder. As soon as the paste is cool, dip a teaspoon into a stewpan containingplenty (it must be deep) of clear fat, which has been heated to just under boiling point; fill it with some of the paste and drop the latter into the fat. Avoid putting many aigrettes into the pan at the same time, and be careful to remove them as soon as they are a deep golden colour. Let the aigrettes cool on a wire tray, and serve them cold with the vegetable cream; they should not be made too long before they are required. The above makes a good dish for a cold supper.