The home cook book

Remove the hearts from the onions. Boil the outer part fifteen minutes, taking care they remain firm. Fry the minced hearts of the onions in a tablespoon of butter. Add one teacup of cracker-crumbs and one teacup of sweet cream, a teaspoon of celery seed, a dash of cayenne pepper, and half a teaspoon of salt. Beat in one egg. Stuff the outer parts of the onions with this, lay in a baking dish, spread over the top any stuffing you have left, and pour around the onions one cup of sweet milk. Then bake slowly one-half hour. BOILED PARSNIPS Select medium-sized parsnips. Scrape and lay them in cold water for half an hour. At the end of that time, Pour off the water. Put them in a saucepan. Cover with boiling water, slightly salted. Keep covered with water while boiling, and add more water when needed. Boil the parsnips very tender, which will take one hour or more. When done, lay in a hot dish. If they are large, split them lengthwise. One way of dressing parsnips is to sprinkle each parsnip separately with salt and pepper, and pour over a quantity of melted butter. Another is to sprinkle them with pepper, and pour over drawn butter, which is made as follows : One heaping tablespoon and a half of butter, one heaping tablespoon and a half of flour mashed together in a small saucepan. Pour over one teacup and a half of hot water and stir to dissolve. Salt to taste. Set this saucepan in another containing water. Let the mixture come to boil. Stir constantly until it thickens, keep very smooth, and have just thick enough to pour easily. Pour over the parsnips, and serve. . . FRIED PARSNIPS Split and scrape parsnips. Lay them in cold water for half an hour. Put in a saucepan of boiling water, and boil until tender. When done, drain. Roll crackers very fine, and season with red pepper and salt. Beat one egg with one tablespoon of water. Dip the parsnip in the egg, and roll in the cracker. Fry them a light brown and serve in a hot dish. SCALLOPED PARSNIPS Wash and scrape the parsnips and cut them the long way in halves. Have enough boiling water to cover and boil gently about forty-five minutes, till tender. Drain and cut each half into small pieces. In a baking dish put a layer of the cut parsnips with a seasoning of salt and minced onion. Over this a thin layer of breadcrumbs, well spread with butter. Repeat the parsnips and then the breadcrumbs. Have the top layer of the crumbs. Pour over the dish milk cooked to a creamy thickness with flour. Let the milk rise almost to the top of the scallop, set in a moderate oven and bake twenty minutes to half an hour. STUFFED PEPPERS Take six or seven good-sized peppers, remove the seeds and inner pith, and set over the fire in boiling water for fifteen minutes. Pour two tablespoons of melted butter over a cup of fine breadcrumbs. Add an egg and half a teaspoon of salt, mix thoroughly, and lastly add a cup of chopped cold meat softened with stock or water. Mix all again, stuff the forcemeat into the hollow peppers, set in a pan with a little hot water, and bake in a moderate oven till the peppers are thoroughly cooked through — allowing an hour for the baking. SWEET PEPPERS WITH RICE Boil four large peppers until they are tender and can be easily pierced with a fork, then remove the stems and seed.