Tomatoes A La Tom

Cook slowly three slices of bacon diced. Remove the veins and seeds from four green peppers and cut in small pieces. Peel four medium-sized onions and cut in small pieces. Add the peppers and onions to the bacon and cook until a nice brown. Remove to a covered dish to keep hot. Slice six large ripe tomatoes and dip each in flour in which salt and pepper has been dusted. Fry in half butter and half lard. Turn them carefully and brown on both sides. Remove to a platter and pour the bacon, peppers, and onions over them. Pour over all a cream sauce made of a tablespoonful of flour rubbed smooth in a tablespoonful of butter in the same frying-pan. Add one cupful of milk and cook until thick.

Tomato Rabbit

Cook one tablespoonful of chopped onion in one table-spoonful of butter five minutes. Add one cupful of tomatoes, cook two minutes, and strain. In a saucepan, or the blazer of the chafing dish, melt two tablespoonfuls of butter, add two tablespoonfuls of flour, and three-fourths of a cupful of thin cream. Cook until thickened, then add two cupfuls of cheese cut in dice or thinly shaved, the tomato, and one-half teaspoonful each of mustard and salt, and one-fourth teaspoonful of paprika. Stir until cheese is melted and the mixture is smooth. Add two slightly beaten eggs, cook one minute, and serve on toast or heated crackers.

Rice With Tomato And Cheese

Pick over and wash half a cupful of rice. Place in the upper part of a double boiler with three cupfuls of boiling water, and boil five minutes. Add one cupful of tomato puree, one-half teaspoonful of salt, and one teaspoonful each of chopped onion and green pepper, cooked until soft in two tablespoonfuls of butter. Cook in the double boiler, without stirring, until the rice is soft, then add half a cupful of grated cheese. Stir with a fork and serve as soon as the cheese is melted.

Cabbage Hors D'Oeuvre

Two cupfuls of raw cabbage, two tablespoonfuls of chives, one fresh red pepper, and a few olives. Chop all separately and cover with a French dressing.

Celery Croquettes

Cut the outer green stalks of a bunch of celery into small pieces and boil in slightly salted water until very tender; drain and mash to a paste, adding a small cupful of grated bread crumbs, a high seasoning of salt and pepper, the yolk of one hard-cooked egg, blended with a quarter of a teaspoonful of French mustard, one table-spoonful of cream sauce, and the beaten yolk of one egg; mix the ingredients thoroughly and, with floured hands, form into small croquettes, frying in deep fat (any vegetable oil) to a golden brown; serve on a folded napkin, inserting in the top of each a sprig of parsley, attached to a small toothpick.

Black Bean Soup

Soak a quart of the beans all night. In the morning turn off the water and cover them with boiling water for half an hour; drain again and add two quarts of boiling water, slightly salted. Boil slowly until the beans are broken to pieces. Rub through a sieve back into the pot with the water in which they were boiled, and pour in upon the puree a quart of good stock. Simmer for half an hour; season with onion juice, salt, and pepper to taste. Thicken with a roux of browned flour rubbed to a paste with butter, using a tablespoonful of each to a pint, then cook for a minute, boil up once, and it is ready to serve. Have ready diced or fried bread to put upon the surface when it goes into the tureen or into plates. Some prefer sliced lemon, peeled, and laid upon the top of the soup, to the fried bread.

Celery Croquettes. Recipe given on Page 330.

Shad Roe Croquettes. Recipe given on Page 165.

Lentils, Garnished with Cress and Celery Hearts. A Salad Dressing may be added if liked.

Directions for Cooking the Lentils on Page 320.

Green Peppers Stuffed with Cauliflower. Recipe given on Page 332.