Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/79

some water. Bake a couple of hours, and when done remove the slices of citron. Put the guavas into a glass dish, and serve cold with boiled custard.

Brandy Peaches.

Ingredients: Eight or nine large ripe peaches, one pint of best brandy.

Mode: Peel the peaches, and having made a strong syrup put the peaches into a jar, pour over them the brandy slightly warmed, and fill up with syrup. Peaches can be easily peeled by being put into the potato steamer over boiling water for three or four minutes. Remove, and when cold, the skin can be peeled off quite easily.

Peaches and Rice.

Ingredients: Peaches, rice, sugar.

Mode: Stew some peaches, which have been previously cut in halves, in a prepared syrup. Fill a basin or mould with hot boiled rice, turn it out, and arrange the fruit round it; pour the syrup over the whole. This is very good for children’s dinner.

Meringue of Peaches.

Ingredients: Several ripe peaches, five eggs, 5 ozs. powdered sugar, rich cream.

Mode: Peel the peaches, break or cut in halves, and take out the stones and sprinkle powdered or loaf sugar over the fruit. Now make a meringue mixture by beating the whites of four or five eggs until stiff enough to drop, adding the powdered sugar by slow degrees. Cover the ordinary oven tin with white paper slightly buttered, and drop the beaten egg on it by tablespoonsful, place in a hot oven for a few minutes. Brown very slightly, remove the soft part when they are cold, and place half a peach in the cavity. Have ready some rich cream beaten to three times its original quantity, and place mounds of it on top of the meringues, and serve. To whip cream you require to use a very light whisk, and if in the summer, the bowl must be surrounded with ice.

Fruit Compote.

Ingredients: Fruit, loaf sugar.

Mode: A compôte is merely fresh fruit stewed or boiled in syrup until sufficiently cooked, without losing its shape or colour. The best way to do it is in a hot oven. First make the syrup by boiling together loaf or good white sugar and water, the amount of sugar depending upon the acidity of the fruit, but it must be made strong or the fruit will not sweeten sufficiently or look clear. A cup to a cup of water will make a strong enough syrup for peaches. Boil the sugar and water, skim it carefully. When the syrup is ready transfer it to a deep tin or crockery-ware dish and place in the oven. When hot put in the fruit whole, or in quarters if liked. If the syrup does not cover they must be basted. Let them simmer till clear, then remove the fruit into a glass dish, and when cold pour the syrup over. Many cooks colour the syrup, and also flavour it.

Banana Fritters.

Ingredients: Bananas, two eggs, three tablespoonsful of flour, a little sugar, milk.

Mode: Divide each banana into four or five thin slices. Now make a batter of the eggs, flour, sugar, and as much milk as will make it the right consistency. Dip the pieces of banana into this and fry in plenty of hot fat.

Banana Custard.

Ingredients: One egg, one pint of milk, one tablespoonful of sugar, one desertspoonful of maizena, six bananas.

Mode: Slice your bananas across, and lay in a pie dish. Make a boiled custard in following way:—Boil the milk, beat up the egg and sugar, and add to it the maizena blended in a little milk. Mix well, and when milk is at the boiling point, stir in the mixture, stir well and let it boil up once or twice. Pour the custard over the bananas, stirring them in.