Sauces

CHEESE SAUCE

Put 2 tablespoons butter on fire. Add 2 tablespoons flour and blend to a paste. Add ½ teaspoon salt and a dash of cayenne. Then add gradually 1 cup milk. Cook five minutes, then add 1 cup grated cheese. Do not allow it to boil after adding the cheese but serve at once.

TOMATO SAUCE

(Italian)

Take 3 chopped shallots, put them in a stew-pan with a tablespoonful of olive oil, salt, pepper, a dash of ground ginger, a very little ground nutmeg. Let the shallots take a good colour without burning; add 6 tomatoes skinned and all the pits well squeezed out. Let them cook very gently until all the moisture has disappeared. They should take the consistency of jam.

This sauce may be eaten hot or cold.

ANOTHER TOMATO SAUCE

Cut in two 5 or 6 tomatoes, squeeze out the seeds, put in a stew-pan with 1 cup of stock; salt and pepper, a bit of tarragon, laurel thyme, parsley, a chopped onion, and a dash of cinnamon. Cook until the moisture has disappeared, then pass through a sieve. Prepare a white thickening with 1 oz. of butter, the same of flour. Add the purée of tomatoes to it; thin the sauce with stock. Let it cook 10 to 15 minutes and finish with a pinch of sugar and 1 oz. of butter.

MUSTARD SAUCE

Two tablespoons of butter, 1½ tablespoons of flour, 1 cup of scalded milk, ¼ teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of mustard, ½ teaspoon of vinegar.

Blend the butter and flour in a saucepan and pour on the milk little by little, then add the salt, mustard, and vinegar.

A spoonful of mixed capers is sometimes added.

A MEAT SAUCE

(Italian)

Put into a saucepan 1 pound of beef and ½ an onion chopped up with 3 ounces of lard, some parsley, salt, pepper, 1 clove, and a very small slice of ham. Fry these over a hot fire for a few minutes, moving them continually, and when the onion is browned add 4 tablespoons of red wine, and 4 tablespoons of tomato sauce (or tomato paste). When this sauce begins to sputter add, little by little, some boiling water. Stick a fork into the meat from time to time to allow the juices to escape. Take a little of the sauce in a spoon, and when it looks a good golden colour, and there is a sufficient quantity to cover the meat, put the covered saucepan at the back of the stove and allow it to simmer until the meat is thoroughly cooked. Then take out the meat, slice it, prepare macaroni, or any paste you desire, and serve it with the meat, and the sauce poured over all, and the addition of butter and grated cheese.

ANOTHER MEAT SAUCE

(Italian)

Chop up some ham fat with a little onion, celery, carrot, and parsley. Add a small piece of beef and cook until beef is well coloured. Then add 1½ tablespoons of red wine (or white), cook until wine is absorbed, then add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste diluted with water, or 4 fresh tomatoes, and boil 15 minutes.

LOMBARDA SAUCE

Put 2 cups of white sauce and 1 of chicken stock into a saucepan, reduce, and add 3 yolks of eggs mixed with 2 ounces of butter and the juice of ½ a lemon. Before it boils take the saucepan off the fire and add 1 cup of thick tomato sauce, strain, and just before serving add 1 tablespoon of sweet herbs minced fine.

HORSE-RADISH SAUCE

Cook about half an hour in a double boiler 1½ cups of milk, 1 dessert-spoon of sugar, ¹/₃ cup of bread-crumbs, and ¹/₃ cup of grated horse-radish root, ¼ cup of butter, half a teaspoon of salt.

GNOCCHI DI SEMOLINA

One pint of milk, 2 eggs, ½ cup of farina, butter and cheese.

Put the milk on, and when it boils add salt. Take a wooden spoon and, stirring constantly, add the farina little by little. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Take off the fire and break into the farina 2 eggs; mix very quickly, so that the egg will not have time to set. Spread the farina about on a marble slab about ½ inch thick. Allow it to cool, then cut it into squares or diamonds about 2 or 3 inches across. Butter well a baking-dish, and put in the bottom a layer of the squares of farina; sprinkle over a little grated cheese, and here and there a small lump of butter. Then put in another layer of the squares of farina; add cheese and butter as before. Continue in this way until your baking-dish is full, having on the top layer butter and cheese.

Bake in a hot oven until a brown crust forms. Serve in the baking-dish.