These menus are offered merely as suggestions for the guidance of the kitchen novice. If you prefer heartier meals, or more elaborate ones, make use of the suggested menus as starting points and, using the rules above, add a salad to this one. hors-d'oeuvre to that, or include an extra vegetable that you particularly like.
Begin the first dinner with a slice of smoked Nova Scotia salmon, sprinkled with its classic seasoning, freshly ground pepper. Boiled buttered noodles make a properly simple accompaniment for the rich beef goulash (April, 1958) to follow, and next comes a tossed green salad (October, 1957) that demands the crispest greens the grocer can provide. Strawberry tarts are the pièce de résistance, the brilliant fruit, at the height of its season, arranged in the little pastry shells on a lied of whipped cream and topped with gleam ing currant jelly.
Strawberry Tarts
Make the following tart pastry: To ½ cup creamed butter add ½ teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 small egg and mix the ingredients. Blend in 2 cups sifted Hour, using a pastry blender, fork, or the hands, until the mixture is the texture of coarse meal. Add gradually 4 to 5 tablespoons cold water, or just enough to make a firm dough. Cut the water in with a knife lightly and carefully; do not work the dough. Roll out the dough into a sheet ¼ inch thick, cut from it 6 small circles of dough and line 6 individual tart pans. Prick the bottom and sides to prevent bubbling, brush the dough with milk, and bake the pastry shells in a hot oven (400° F.) for about 30 minutes, or until they are brown. Cool the shells, spread them with whipped cream, and on the whipped cream arrange circles of strawberries, washed lightly, drained, and hulled. Spread over the berries a glaze of currant jelly, heated until it is soft.
A light soup, mes amis, provides a pleasant overture to the mere substantial dishes to come; to the basic consommé described in our Primer, beet juice and celery are added to make consommé viveur. No group of menus for spring would be complete without the appearance of shad roe. With the rot, serve pureed spinach and tiny potato balls tolled in butter. The simplicity of the vegetables is carried through to the dessert: perfect pieces of fruit and your favorite cheeses.
Consommé Viveur
To 2 quarts clear consommé (November, 1957) add ½ cup beet juice and 6 outside stalks of celery with their leaves. Bring the soup slowly to a boil, strain it, and add ½ to 1 cup celery, cut in fine julienne.
Shad Roe Bonne Femme
To 2 tablespoons butter in a shallow saucepan add 3 shallots, and 1 tablespoon parsley, all finely chopped, 12 mushrooms, cleaned and sliced, 5 pairs of shad roe, arranged side “by side, and a generous ½ cup while wine. Cover the roe with a circle of wax paper, cut to fir the pan, and make a hole in the center of the wax paper to allow steam to escape. Bring the liquid to a boil, cover the pan, and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the roe are tender. Remove the roe to a flameproof platter. Reduce the liquid in the pan to half its original quantity, blend in l/4 cup cream sauce (January, 1958), and swirl in 1 tablespoon butter. Correct the seasoning with salt, pour the sauce over the roe, and brown the cop under the broiler. To make a more uniform brown glaze, fold 2 tablespoons whipped cream into the sauce just before pouring it over the roe.
Potatoes Parisieune
Cut 6 peeled potatoes into small balls, parboil them in salted water for 5 minutes, and drain them thoroughly. Melt 4 tablespoons bolter in a saucepan, add the potatoes, and cook them, rolling them in the butter with a wooden spoon, for about 10 minutes, or until they are golden. Season the potato balls with salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle them with finely chopped parsley.
In the November, 1957, “Primer for Gourmets,” 1 dealt with the question of stock-based soups; you will find there directions for making a rich consomme that should jell readily. If the jelling presents a problem, however, add to the soup 1 envelope of gelatin softened for 5 minutes in a little cold water. Chill the consommé in the refrigerator until it is set. Serve the jellied consommé in frosty-cold bouillon cups and garnish them with wedges of lemon and parsley sprays. Pork chops in a piquant sauce follow, served with buttered steamed rice and asparagus with sauce polonaise. Your dessert of macédome de fruits may consist of any mixture of fruits, depending upon what the bounty of the season offers; combine them with liqueur, if you choose. Kirsch lends its mellow flavor particularly well to this refreshing dessert.
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