THE COOKING OF VEGETABLES. 



63 



small orange it is very nice when cooked. Peeled like a potato, 

 with a knife, cut into halves or quarters and steamed, it makes 

 a good hot salad with lemon juice, oil and pepper and salt. 

 Simply steamed, it is very nice as an ordinary vegetable, mixed 

 up with its own tops. Peeled, cut up, and stewed with meat, it 

 is very nice. 



Tomato. — I have eaten tomatos simply grilled, as an 

 accompaniment with a mutton chop. But grilled tomatos are 

 not so good as tomatos cut in halves cross ways, and fried in 

 lard to softness, or till the rawness disappears. If they are only 

 to be half done, it is better to eat them quite raw as a salad. 

 Baked tomatos in a pan smeared with lard are very nice when 

 eaten as a vegetable with pepper and salt. But the tomato 

 admits of being cooked in various ways, with meat, eggs, or fish 

 ingredients, as follows : — 



(a) Stuffed tomatos. — Take some smooth round tomatos, cut 

 off the stalk end, and scoop out the seeds from the centre, but 

 not the pulp round the skin. Fry some chopped onions in lard 

 to softness with a minced clove of garlic and some minced 

 parsley. Mix in some minced meat, or fowl, or fish — preferably 

 tinned sardines. When cool, bind the whole with a whipped egg 

 and a little breadcrumb ; season with pepper and salt and a pinch 

 of ground spice ; stuff the tomatos with this mixture, smooth 

 the surface and sprinkle over it a little breadcrumb and bake in 

 a dish smeared with lard till the surface is browned. 



(b) Tomatos and Eggs. — Peel some ripe tomatos (two, three, 

 or four, according to need); cut out the stalk centres, cut them up 

 and fry them in butter till they become dissolved, no raw bits 

 should remain uncooked ; season them with pepper and salt. 

 Beat up three, four, or six fresh eggs, according to need, but do 

 not beat them too much. Pour the eggs into the tomato-pan, 

 and stir gently till the eggs are almost set. Serve hot on toast. 

 If the tomatos are quite ripe, the eggs fresh, and the butter 

 " best butter," this is a very nice breakfast dish. The eggs should 

 not be allowed to become solid on the fire. 



(c) But one of the best ways of cooking tomatos is the follow- 

 ing : — In a baking-dish or pudding-dish place a layer of sardines 

 from a newly-opened tin, spread over them a layer of finely 

 sliced young white onions (spring onions are the best), over these 

 sprinkle a tablespoonful of capers, and a heaped dessertspoon of 



