The table

424. Eggs a la Finoise. — Pour a pint of good tomato sauce (No. 205) into a saucepan on the hot stove, add two cut-up, peeled, sweet peppers, fry for two minutes in a tablespoonful of butter, a teaspoonful of chopped chives, and reduce it gradually to about half the quantity, which will take ten minutes. Poach six very fresh eggs, as for No. 404, pare their edges neatly. Place six freshly prepared hot toasts on a warm servingdish, arrange the eggs carefully on top, and pour the above sauce over all, then send them to the table at once. 425. Eggs au Miroir. — Lightly butter a silver dish large enough to hold twelve eggs, one beside another ; carefully break into it twelve eggs, taking care to keep the yolks intact. Evenly sprinkle over them half a pinch of salt. Cook for one minute on the hot stove; then place them in the oven for one and a half minutes. Take out, and place the dish on another, and serve. 426. Eggs With Fresh Mushrooms. — Peel, wash, and drain a quarter of a pound of fine, fresh mushrooms. Place them in a saucepan, with a tablespoonful of very good butter. Season with half a pinch of salt and a third of a pinch of white pepper, squeezing in first two drops of lemon juice. Cover the saucepan, and cook for ten minutes on a moderate fire. Add a quarter of a glassful of good Madeira wine ; reduce to one-half, which will take two minutes; add now a gill of bechamel sauce (No. 154), and let come to a boil again. Prepare twelve fresh-poached eggs, as in No. 404; pour the sauce on a hot serving-dish, keeping the mushrooms in the saucepan. Neatly lay the eggs over the sauce around the dish, and dress the mushrooms right in the centre, and serve very hot. 427. Eggs with Celery. — Boil for fifteen minutes, in a quart of white broth (No. 99), two heads of well-washed and neatly pared, sound celery. Remove it from the broth; then cut it up in one-inch-length pieces, and return it to the pan with the broth in which it was first boiled, leaving it on the hot stove. Season with one pinch of salt and the third of a pinch of white pepper. Reduce to three-quarters (which will require ten minutes). Add a gill of hot bechamel sauce (No. 154), let come to a boil. Poach twelve fresh eggs exactly as in No. 404, neatly arrange them on a hot dish, crown-like. Pour the celery sauce right in the centre, and serve very hot. 428. Eggs with Truffles. — Peel three medium-sized, sound truffles. Cut them into thin slices, place in a saucepan with a glassful of Madeira wine; reduce to one-half on a moderate fire. Season with one pinch of salt and the third of a pinch of white pepper; add one gill of bechamel sauce (No. 154); let come to a boil. Prepare twelve heart-shaped croutons (No. 133); dip the thin parts first into the sauce half an inch in depth, then into fresh, finely chopped-up parsley up to the same depth. Gently dress (arrange) them on the hot serving-dish in star-shape, so that the decorated ends of the croutons will just reach up to the edge of the dish equally all around. Prepare twelve poached eggs exactly the same as in No. 404; dress an egg on each crouton. Gently pour the above prepared sauce right in the centre of the dish, being careful not to pour any over the eggs.