Banquets of the nations

Put two ounces shelled walnuts in salted cold water, bring to the boil, and simmer for half a minute. Turn on to a sieve and run cold water over them to take out any bitterness from the skins, and mince very fine. Cut the half of a large onion into slices, soak in boiling water for a couple of minutes, then chop very fine and boil for ten minutes. Add to the ground nuts and boiled onions two ounces well-washed red lentils, half a tablespoonful lemon juice, three quarters of an ounce of nut butter, finely-chopped rind of a quarter of a lemon, quarter teaspoonful of mace, same quantity of nutmeg, pepper and salt to taste. Stew very gently till cooked, but not pulped. When nearly cooked mix in half a tablespoonful of fine tapioca. When all cooked, give a stir round and turn out on to a dish to cool. When quite cold make into cutlets by putting them into cutlet forms, egg and breadcrumb them, and fry in boiling butter. Serve with parsley sauce, peas a la bourgoise, and potato cream. Parsley Sauce. Melt three ounces of butter and stir in two ounces flour. When quite smooth add slowly two teacupfuls of milk, stir till it thickens ; then add a couple of spoonfuls of finely-chopped and scalded parsley, and cook over the fire for a couple of minutes ; add pepper and salt to taste. Chopped eggs substituted for the parsley also makes a good sauce. Peas a la Bourgoise. Shell a couple of pounds of peas, put them in water which is boiling fast, along with a dozen button onions. When cooked, strain and put them into another pan with a seasoning of salt, a dust of pepper, and a piece of nut butter the size of a hen's egg. Heat up thoroughly and serve very hot. This may be served as a separate dish. Potato Cream. Peel, boil, and mash ten good potatoes, and pour over them half a gill of thick cream which has been heated to boiling point ; add half an ounce of fresh butter, a pinch of white pepper, and some salt if necessary. Put the pan on the fire and whip with a fork until as light as whipped cream. Heap on to a hot dish, but do not smooth them. Omelet and Stuffed Mushrooms. Break five whole eggs and four yolks into a basin and beat them up with one and a half saltspoonfuls of salt and half the quantity of pepper until very light. Then add three ounces of butter broken into small pieces along with a dessertspoonful of shallot, a teaspoonful of parsley, the same quantity of taragon, marjorim, and basil, minced fairly small, which carefully mix. Put three ounces of nut butter into a pan (not too large), and when boiling give the mixture a brisk whisk for a minute and then pour into the pan. Stir the mixture with a spoon till it begins to thicken. When quite firm, place the pan in front of the fire to partially cook the upper side. Then fold over and serve at once. Garnish with farced mushrooms. Stuffed Mushrooms. Clean and peel half-a-dozen nice-sized mushrooms ; chop up the stalks along with a shallot, a teaspoonful of parsley, and the same quantity of chervil. Stew these in two ounces of butter ; when tender, add a few breadcrumbs, the yolk of an egg, and season with pepper and salt. Mix all together and stuff the mushrooms with the mixture, and cook in the oven for about fifteen minutes. Serve on buttered crotons. Cucumbers Farced.