VEGETABLES

ARROZ EN EL HORNO

Take a pint of any very strong vegetable stock and mix with it four tablespoonfuls of big whole rice; add a tablespoonful of chopped green pepper, a peeled tomato, an onion finely shredded, a big lump of butter, salt and paprika. Put all in a small stone jar, cover with a loose lid and bake in a slow oven for two hours, without stirring.

BEANS MEXICAN

Soak two cupfuls of pink beans in six of water overnight; in the morning add a small onion and boil gently until soft; take out the onion and set the beans to drain. Put a large tablespoonful of fresh lard in a skillet and when sizzling-hot add the drained beans. Mix beans and lard thoroughly until each bean seems to have a coating of the fat and begins to burst. Add a cupful of the liquid in which the beans were boiled and gently crush a few of the beans with the spoon to thicken the gravy. Add the remainder of the bean liquor and a chopped chile pepper and simmer until the beans are quite dry.

CHILE REINAS

Cut chile peppers lengthwise down the sides, remove the seeds and carefully roast in hot ashes, after which the outer skin can easily be wiped off. Grate dry cheese and stuff the peppers full of this and press the two sides together and fasten. According to the number of peppers being prepared, take enough eggs for a liberal dressing; beat the whites and yolks separately to a light froth and then mix them. Have ready a frying-pan with sufficient boiling lard to cover the peppers. Dip each pod into the frothy egg for a moment, then drop into the boiling lard, pouring over each more of the egg while the frying peppers are turned. Serve with a chile sauce to which has been added a few chopped green walnut meats.

CIDRACAYOTE

Take young summer squash, wash and remove stem and flower and cut into dice. Put in a stew-pan a tablespoonful of pure lard and when hot add a half-teaspoonful of finely minced onion; stir about and then put in the squash, salt and black pepper. Fry for ten minutes, stirring often, then add tender sweet corn fresh from the cob, in proportion of a half-cupful of corn to a full pint of squash. Cook until sufficiently soft to mash.

EJOTES CON VINO

Cook string-beans until tender in boiling salted water. Fry a little chopped onion and green pepper in oil until brown; add the beans and some white wine with a seasoning of salt and pepper.

ESTILO SECO

Boil a pint of pink beans until very tender in plenty of water, adding hot water as it boils away. Put in a frying-pan a heaping tablespoonful of lard and butter mixed; strain the hot beans from the pot and put into the boiling fat; add a sliced onion and seasoning of salt and red pepper. Stir well and allow to brown slightly. Ten minutes before taking from the frying-pan add seven tablespoonfuls of grated American cheese. Serve with thin slices of hot buttered toast and sliced cucumbers with oil and vinegar.

ENTRADAS

Make a sauce of a quarter of a cupful of olive-oil and two tablespoonfuls of butter heated together; in this fry two green onions, a bunch of parsley, a little celery, a leek, a little garlic, and green peppers, all chopped fine. Season with salt and a tablespoonful of the Spanish sausage. After all is well cooked down, add a half-cupful of good stock. Boil some macaroni until tender and then plunge in cold water to blanch. Place orderly on a wide platter, strain the hot sauce over it and cover the top with grated Edam cheese.

FRIJOLES

In the bottom of a bean-jar put a whole onion with a clove stuck in it, three whole cloves of garlic, four pieces of mustard pickle and three tablespoonfuls of the mustard vinegar. Over this put a layer of uncooked red beans and a piece of salt pork, then more beans; over all a tablespoonful of sugar. Fill with hot water and bake slowly all day. Renew with hot water from time to time.

FRIJOLES CON QUESO

Boil two cupfuls of red beans until soft; drain and put in a skillet with a tablespoonful of hot lard and fry, pressing a few to thicken the gravy. Add a cupful of hot water and when bubbling put in a cupful of grated cheese. Season with salt and chile sauce.

FUENTE ITALIANO

Boil spaghetti until tender, strain and put into a deep baking-dish. Chop an onion and a clove of garlic fine and add, with three peeled, sliced tomatoes. Dilute chile powder to taste in a little water and pour over all. Cover the top with grated cheese and put in the oven to brown.

GREEN CHILES

Boil two pounds of meat until tender and chop fine; add a large ripe peeled tomato, two sliced onions, two slices of bread chopped fine, raisins, olives, salt and a tablespoonful of vinegar. Fry all these together in olive-oil and season with a little sugar and pepper. Remove the stems and seeds from six green chile peppers and stuff them with this dressing. Dip each chile in a rather stiff batter and fry in deep drippings.

HABAS ESPAÑA

Soak one and one-half cupfuls of Spanish beans overnight; in the morning lift into boiling water and boil three hours, adding boiling water as it boils away. Drain from the water and add a quarter of a pound of bacon and two chile peppers. Put a half-cupful of olive-oil in a large frying-pan, add six large onions and three cloves of garlic sliced fine, and fry gently to a light brown; add two bay-leaves, a can of tomatoes, salt and black pepper, and simmer an hour, stirring frequently. Then put in the beans and boil for three hours, adding some of the water in which the beans were boiled, if too thick.

MACARRONES

Boil macaroni in salted water, drain and blanch by pouring cold water over it. Melt three tablespoonfuls of butter and add two tablespoonfuls of chopped green peppers and one of finely chopped onion. Cook five minutes and then pour in gradually a small cupful of brown stock and one of stewed and strained tomatoes. Season with salt and paprika. Reheat macaroni in this sauce and serve immediately.

MAÑANA-LAND

Fry in a tablespoonful of olive-oil a large sliced onion and eight chopped green peppers; to this add a cupful of uncooked rice and stir constantly until the rice is nicely browned; then put in a half-can of tomatoes and fill up the skillet with rich soup stock and cook slowly, without stirring, for an hour.

PAPAS RELLENAS

Chop some cold cooked beef and mix with it raisins, chopped hard-boiled eggs, stoned ripe olives and a pinch of ground cloves. Moisten with port wine and make into little cones. Have ready some highly seasoned mashed potatoes, beaten until light. Cover the cones with this and fry in hot oil like doughnuts till a golden brown.

PIMIENTOS

Chop some cold cooked beef very fine and add one-half the amount in each, of finely chopped raisins and chopped walnut meats. Prepare the peppers for ordinary stuffing, only scrape rather thinner. Fill with the mixture, dip in thin egg batter and fry brown. Serve with chile sauce.

PLATO FUERTE

Select even-sized chile peppers and cut out the stems, seeds and cores. Make a stuffing of boned and skinned sardines mixed with finely chopped cheese, blended together with beaten egg. Stuff the peppers with this, dip in thick batter and fry in deep fat. When thoroughly cooked, drain on brown paper and serve very hot.

RELLENOS

Grind fine a pound of well-cooked veal and add to it a Spanish sausage (chorizo), a half-cupful, each, of seedless raisins and blanched almonds. Moisten this with the veal stock and season with salt. Broil sweet Mexican green peppers, pull off the skin and stuff with this. Dip the peppers in a thin batter of egg and flour and fry in hot olive-oil. Serve with tomato sauce.

RELLENOS DE QUESO DE GRUYÈRE

Put six chile peppers in the oven for a few moments and then wipe off the outer skin. Cut off the tops and carefully remove seeds and veins. Make a stuffing of strips of Swiss cheese, flavored with chopped onion, parsley and a few drops of lemon-juice. Fill the peppers, not very full, with this. Beat four eggs, whites and yolks separately, put together and thicken with a teaspoonful of flour. Dip the chiles in this batter and fry in hot olive-oil until brown. Serve with tomato sauce.

STUFFED CHILES

Take a dozen large green chile peppers and lay them on the top of the stove until roasted slightly on all sides; remove and wrap in a cloth for a few minutes, when they can be easily peeled. Prepare the stuffing by chopping a half-pound of cheese very fine and adding a cupful of fine bread-crumbs, an onion chopped fine, a big lump of butter, salt and pepper. Beat the whites of three eggs to a froth and add two tablespoonfuls of milk and flour enough to make a thin batter. Fill the chiles with the stuffing, dip each one in the batter and fry in deep, hot olive-oil. Serve with tomato sauce.

SUCULENTO

Fry a half-pound of chopped salt pork with a sliced onion and six green peppers cut small. When brown add a can of corn and four small summer squashes sliced. Cover with milk and cook slowly two hours, without stirring.