Melon au Porto ( MeIon with Port Wine)
Select 1 or 2 large melons, depending on the number of people to be served For good pink meat, large cantaloupes or Canadian melons are generally the best in July. With a sharp knife carefully cut a round opening 1 ½ to 2 inches in diameter in the stem end. Remove this circular plug, and set it aside. With a long-handled spoon empty out the seeds and fibre. If the melon is not too sweet, sprinkle in 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, but for a very sweet melon omit the sugar. Pour in 1 cup port wine and replace the plug. Set the melon in a bowl, surround it with cracked ice, and put in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Melons prepared this way are not cut in slices. To serve, cut an opening in the top large enough to permit spooning out the meat. Serve in small deep dishes with some of the wine.
Filets de Sole à l'Orieutale eu Celêe (Filets of Sole Orientate in Aspic)
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a shallow pan large enough to hold 6 filets of sole. Add 1 teaspoon chopped shallot and arrange the filets in the pan. Add ½ cup white wine, or fish stock or water and the juice of half a lemon. Cover with a piece of buttered waxed paper cut to fit the pan, with a tiny hole in the center. Bring the liquid to a boil, cover the pan, and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the fish is done. Remove the fish to a plate to cool. Cook the liquid in the pan until it is reduced to about ¼ the original quantity and use it in making sauce orientale which combines américaine and portugaise sauces.
When the fish is cold arrange the filets side by side on a large serving platter. Remove the lobster used to make the sauce américaine from the shell, slice the body and tail meat and arrange the meat with the claws on top of the filets. Cover with sauce orientale, then coat the sauce with cold but still liquid aspic and chill until the aspic is set. Garnish the platter with small tomatoes Stuffed with cucumber salad or with lettuce leaves filled with cucumber salad.
Américine Sauce
Cut a live 1 ½- to 2-pound lobster into 8 pieces (the tail in 4 pieces, the body in 2 pieces, and the 2 claws). Remove the tomalley (that is, the liver) and set it aside to thicken the sauce. Prepare a mirepoix bordelaise in a deep saucepan as follows: Melt 1 ½ table-spoons butter, add 1 carrot and 1 onion, both finely chopped, a little thyme, 1 small bay leaf, and 1 sprig of parsley, and cook all together until lightly browned.
In a shallow pan heat ¼ cup olive oil and add the lobster. Add ¼ ten-spoon salt and sauté the lobster for about 5 minutes, or until the meat starts to become firm. Remove the lobster and place it on top of the mirepoix of vegetables. Add 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon chopped shallots, and ½ cup white wine. Add 2 tablespoons warm brandy, ignite, and let it burn out. Add 3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, ½ cup fish Stock and I cup tomato sauce or purée. Cover the pan closely and cook for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the lobster to a plate to cool, Strain the sauce through a fine sieve and cook until it is reduced to about ½ the original quantity. Crush the tomalley with I tablespoon soft butter and mix with ¼ teaspoon Flour and ½ clove of garlic, minced. Combine this mixture with the sauce, add 1 teaspoon chopped tarragon and chervil, and correct the seasoning with salt and a little freshly ground pepper. Mix all together well and bring just to the boiling point, stirring vigorously, but do not boil.
Portugaise Sauce
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan, add 1 teaspoon finely chopped shallot or onion and 4 tablespoons red or while wine. Cook until the wine is reduced to 1/3 the original quantity. Add 3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, and cook until they are soft. Add 2/3 cup tomato sauce or purée and ¼ cup good beef or veal gravy, or 1 tablespoon beef extract or glace de viande. Cook until the sauce is reduced and quite thick. Add 1 tablespoon chopped parsley and salt and pepper to taste.
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