Simple Italian Cookery

a saucepan with some stock; then add a half a cup of cream or milk, stir well together, take them off the stove, and let them cool. When cool add the yolks of two eggs, some grated cheese, and the whites of the eggs beaten up. Put the vegetables into a mold which has been well buttered and lined with bread crumbs, and cook in the oven. LETTUCE IN THE OVEN Take several young lettuces, wash them and remove their wilted leaves, tie the tops together, and lay the lettuces side by side in a baking-pan and pour in one and one-half inches of stock. Cover the pan, and put it in a moderate oven for one-half an hour, adding stock when necessary. Place a fork under the middle of each lettuce, raise and drain, and lay them doubled up on a hot dish. Season the gravy in the pan with butter, salt, and pepper, thicken with one beaten egg, and pour it over the lettuce. Serve hot. CUCUMBERS "ALLA TOSCANA" Peel and blanch three or four cucumbers in boiling salted water for five minutes. Drain and cut them into pieces one inch thick and put them into a frying-pan with one ounce of butter, a little flour, and one-half pint of veal broth, stir well, and add some salt and pepper. Reduce for about fifteen minutes, stirring until it boils, add one teaspoon of chopped parsley, one-half a teaspoon of grated nutmeg, one-half a cup of cream, and the beaten-up yolks of two eggs. Put on the fire again for three or four minutes. Do not let boil, and serve hot. CAULIFLOWER "IN STUFATO" Remove the outer leaves and clean a fine cauliflower. Cut it into several pieces and wash them well with cold water, put them into a pot of boiling salted water, and cook quickly for twenty or thirty minutes, until they are quite tender. Take them out without breaking, and place them on pieces of buttered toast, then put some butter in a frying-pan, add a little flour mixed with some stock, stir well until it