No. 1359 Croquettes de Macaroni au Fromage.
Put two quarts of water, with a little salt and a small piece of butter into a stewpan, and when boiling add half a pound of macaroni, which boil until tender, drain it upon a sieve, and when cold cut it into pieces a quarter of an inch in length, put them into a stewpan with half a pint of béchamel sauce, a little cayenne pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg; let simmer a few minutes until rather thick, stirring it gently occasionally, then add half a pound of grated Parmesan and Gruyère cheese (or good common cheese may be used), turn gently a few minutes longer over the fire, take it off, stir in the yolks of four eggs quickly, stir another minute over the fire to set the eggs, and pour out upon a dish until quite cold, then form it into olive-shaped pieces, rather larger than walnuts, or into pieces of the shape of pears, or into croquettes two inches long, the thickness of your finger; have three eggs well beaten upon a plate, into which dip them, roll them over, then throw them into a dish of bread-crumbs, pat them gently with your knife, dip again into eggs and bread-crumbs, place them in a wire basket, and fry in very hot lard; dress them in pyramid upon a napkin, and serve very hot. If the preparation is well prepared, once bread-crumbing would be sufficient.
Macaroni à l’Italienne.
Boil half a pound of macaroni as above, when done lay it on a sieve to dry for one minute, put it in a pan with four spoonfuls of white sauce, add half a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter ditto of pepper, a little cayenne; toss the macaroni over the fire; when boiling, add two ounces each of grated Parmesan and Gruyère cheese, toss round and round until well mixed, then serve with a gill of very strong gravy around it.
Macaroni au Gratin.
Proceed the same as above, but after you have put the macaroni on the dish, omit the gravy, and cover it slightly with bread-crumbs, and about the same quantity of Parmesan cheese, grated, a little butter over, and then put in a hot oven for a quarter of an hour, if not hot enough, pass the salamander over it to give it a nice brownish colour, and serve very hot.
Macaroni à la Napolitaine.
Boil half a pound of the best quality of macaroni for half an hour (as at No. 1369), when tender, lay one quarter of it on the dish you intend to serve, have ready two ounces of grated Parmesan, which you divide into four parts, to lay over each layer of macaroni, then put over it two tablespoonfuls of strong gravy, made of half glaze and consommé; put the dish in the oven for ten minutes, and serve very hot.
The real Italian method (called à l’Estoufade).
Boil and proceed as before, but make the gravy as follows, and use it instead of the preceding:—Take two pounds of rump of beef, larded through, put in a small stewpan with one quarter of a pound of butter, fry gently for one hour, turning almost continually, when forming a glaze add a pint of broth, let simmer another hour very gently indeed, take the fat off, and use that gravy instead of that above described; a little tomato sauce may be introduced if handy; serve the beef at the same time in a separate dish.