There is, incidentally, a trick in cooking vegetables of this kind in a ring of potatoes duchesse. It is to brown the ring just a little before filling the center. The whole dish will then have an even brown because it takes just a little longer to brown the potatoes than the mornay sauce with the cheese on top.
Brussels Sprouts Châtelaine
Mix together 1 1/2 cups each mashed sweet potato and puree of lentils. Add 1 tablespoon butter and a little salt. Form in a ring on a heatproof platter, brush with butter, and brown in the oven. Fill the center with Brussels sprouts that have been cooked, drained, and sautéed in a little butter.
For those who like a sweet vegetable dish the following is a pleasing combination.
Brussels Sprouts Louisiana
Make a ring of overlapping rounds of sliced, cooked sweet potatoes, alternating them with small pieces of pineapple. Sprinkle with maple syrup and glaze in the oven, basting with syrup while glazing. Fill the center with Brussels sprouts that have been cooked, sautéed in butter, and mixed with cooked chestnuts also sautéed in butter.
For myself I like Brussels sprouts the way my mother cooked them in France. This was a real country method, the trick being to use bacon or pork to flavor them.
Brussels Sprouts Ménagère
Clean 1 quart of sprouts, remove the outside yellowed leaves, trim the stems, and cut an incision in the bottoms. Cook in boiling salted water until just done, or for about 25 minutes. Drain thoroughly. Melt 1 tablespoon butter or fresh goose fat. add 2 or 3 slices of bacon (or some salt pork), finely diced, and 1 teaspoon finely chopped onion. Sauté until golden-brown. Add the drained sprouts and toss until well mixed. Correct the seasoning with salt and pepper and serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.
If you are one of those people who avoids parsnips, let me say that parsnips have a distinctive flavor that is really good. No French cook ever leaves them out of the pot-au-feu through choice but only when they are not available. The special savor that they give the broth comes from no other vegetable. Of course, I have my own opinion why parsnips go begging in the market: they are too often carelessly cooked. The trick is to cut them in pieces of uniform size so that they will cook evenly and at the same time look attractive. The time required for cooking will depend upon the age of the parsnips. In the fall when they are freshly harvested, it takes about 30 minutes, but in the winter when they have been stored for some time, 45 minutes should be allowed. And they are best when prepared quite simply—creamed, fried, or made into cakes. The latter are a very nice garnish for almost any kind of meat. This is a vegetable, incidentally, for which elaborate sauces are not appropriate. I would like to remind you, however, in creaming parsnips or, in fact, in creaming any vegetable to use only a very little sauce, just enough to make a liaison. A vegetable should never be overwhelmed with a lot of soupy cream sauce. The trick is to dress it so sparingly with the sauce that if it is served on the plate with other food, the sauce won't run into everything else.
Creamed Parsnips
Clean and peel parsnips and cut into small, sticklike pieces, as for French fried potatoes. Cook in boiling salted water until tender, or for 30 to 45 minutes. Drain. For 2 cups parsnips, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan, add 1 tablespoon flour, and cook until it just starts to turn golden. Add 3/4 cup hot milk and cook, stirring constantly, until it cooks down to about 1/2 cup. Season with salt, add the parsnips, and cook for a few minutes longer, shaking the parsnips in the sauce until all the pieces are coated. For a richer sauce, add 2 tablespoons cream.
Fried Parsnips
Clean and peel parsnips and cut into small, sticklike pieces about the size of French-fried potatoes. Cook in boiling salted water until tender, or for 30 to 45 minutes. Drain. Dip in fritter batter and fry in hot deep fat or oil until golden-brown. Drain on paper towels, season with salt, and serve with fried parsley.
Fritter Batter
Mix together 3 tablespoons flour, a little salt, 1 teaspoon salad oil, and 1/3 cup lukewarm water. When the batter is smooth, fold in 1 stiffly beaten egg white.
Fried Parsley
Wash parsley thoroughly and dry well. Drop into very hot deep fat and cook for a few minutes, or until the parsley comes to the surface of the fat and has become crisp. Drain well and sprinkle with a little salt.
Parsnip Cakes
Clean and peel parsnips. Cut into small pieces and cook in boiling salted water until soft. Drain thoroughly and mash. Put in a saucepan and place over the heat to dry, shaking the pan all the time to prevent scorching. To 2 cups mashed parsnips add 2 tablespoons each butter and cream, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 egg yolks. Mix thoroughly and spread on a plate to cool. Form into small, square or round croquettes. Dip each one in flour, then coat with a mixture of 1 beaten egg. 1/4 cup milk, 1 tablespoon salad oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, coating each piece thoroughly and draining it of surplus liquid. Dip in fine, dry bread crumbs, completely covering the surfaces. These cakes may be fried in hot deep fat or oil until golden-brown or they may be sautéed in butter.
Of the cereals that I am continually asked about, wild rice is the one that poses the most problems to most people. I myself had never seen this kind of rice before I came to the United States and, as a matter of fact, it wasn't until about twenty-five years ago that it started to appear in our markets. Therefore, many of the older cookbooks have no recipes for preparing and using it, and this is a bit of a handicap to many a cook. Wild rice does need a little more attention than ordinary rice. In the first place, it is apt to be dusty and should be carefully washed in more than one water. Soaking it for 15 to 20 minutes is a good way to get out all the dirt. It requires a longer cooking time and a larger amount of water (2 quarts for each cup of rice) and it swells to greater proportions than white rice. Thus, for each cup of dry wild rice, you will have three cups when cooked. You will find, though, that it reheats nicely in butter if not used immediately.
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