Mushrooms and Lima Beans in Cream
Clean and slice ½ pound fresh mushrooms. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan, add 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots or onion, and cook until soft. Add the mushrooms and cook until the moisture is evaporated. Add 1 cup light cream and cook until reduced to ½ cup. Thicken by adding a manié butter. made by creaming 1 tablespoon butter with 1 teaspoon flour. Add 2 cups cooked Lima beans, return to the boil, and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
When cooking Lima beans, the French have a trick. too, for keeping them green. They use a tin-lined copper pan and cook them in salted water. I advise rinsing the cooked beans for a second in cold water to prevent their getting mushy after they are done. Then reheat them in a little butter and perhaps cream, sweet or sour.
Corn Soufflé
Prepare 1 cup corn pulp. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan, add the corn, and cook until most of the moisture is evaporated. In another saucepan, make a thick béchamel (see above) up to the point where it has cooked for 15 minutes. Mix the corn in thoroughly. Beat A egg yolks and combine with the corn. Reheat, but do not boil. Correct the seasoning and fold in 5 stiffly beaten egg whites. Put the batter in a deep baking dish or soufflé mold, buttered and floured, and cook in a moderately hot oven (375° F.) for 25 to 30 minutes. Garnish by sprinkling the top of the soufflé before it goes in the oven with whole kernels of corn cut from the cob.
With eggplant—like corn, at its height in summer—I had no problem. Here was an old familiar favorite, although I found it wasn't used too frequently on American tables. In France, it is very popular. They say, “Mangez plus d'aubergine, évitez d'aroir les chevenx gris” or “Eat more eggplant if you don't want gray hair”—advice, I'm afraid, of doubtful value.
Eggplant is very good in this country. Apparently the climate is right because the ones grown here are much larger than those in France. In fact, it is surprising to me that such a little plan: can support such a big vegetable. There are numberless ways of cooking eggplant but in all of them the problem s to avoid sogginess, which is too often the case because this vegetable contains so much water. The ideal eggplant is crisp on the outside and succulent within. One way of attaining this is to deep-fry or sauté eggplant slices very quickly and serve them immediately. Or eggplant, if intended for stuffings or soufflé, should be sliced or cut in pieces, sprinkled with salt, and allowed to stand to remove the excess moisture. The pieces are then fried in deep fat and the pulp mashed and used as desired.
Another solution is to combine egg plant with other foods, such as tomatoes.mushrooms, cheese, cream sauce, et cetera. Quite substantial dishes result this way because eggplant has a certain hearty quality. In the French cuisine, tomatoes and garlic are frequently used in combination with eggplant. The flavors seem to have an affinity with each other. The simplest recipe is sautéed eggplant but I think a more popular one is eggplant à l'orientale, which I evolved for our menu. I myself like eggplant pro vençal, a garlic-flavored combination of tomatoes and eggplant that is simple but very tasty.
Sautéed Eggplant
Peel an eggplant and cut it in ½-inch slices. Sprinkle each with a little salt and dip in milk and then in flour. Heat salad oil until it is very hot and brown the eggplant slices in it. a few at a time, cooking each side for 2 to 3 minutes.
Eggplant à l'Orientale
Prepare I cup cream sauce. In another saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon butter, add 2 shallots, finely chopped, or 1 tablespoon chopped onion, and cook until they are soft. Add 4 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, and cook until reduced to 1/3 the original quantity. Add the cream sauce and 1 teaspoon chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat, combine with 2 beaten egg yolks, and finish with 2 tablespoons butter.
Peel an eggplant and cut it in ½-inch slices. Dip in milk and dredge with flour. Fry in hot deep fat or sauté in butter. Season with salt and drain off the surplus fat after cooking. Arrange alternate layers of sauce and eggplant in a heatproof serving dish. Clover the top with the remainder of the sauce mixed with 2 tablespoons whipped cream. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and brown under the broiler.
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