Gnocchi alla Romana.—For this prepare a
porridge with semolina, by sifting a handful of
semolina through the fingers of one hand into a pan
of boiling salted water which you keep stirred with
the other hand; continue this stirring well after
the semolina is mixed in, so as to ensure the
thorough cooking of the latter, then when sufficiently
stiff turn it out and leave till perfectly cold. Now
lift it up in spoonfuls and arrange these symmetric-
ally in a well-buttered pie-dish, liberally sprinkling
each layer with grated Parmesan cheese, tiny morsels
of butter, and freshly and coarsely ground black
pepper; bake till of a pretty golden colour.
Another way of preparing these is to dissolve a
small pat of the butter in the salted water used for
the porridge, and make the latter with two parts
semolina to one of grated Parmesan, making it
pretty thick. When cold this is used as before, but
cover each layer with either tomato purée, good
sauce, or strong beef gravy, as you please, instead of
cheese, etc. Or again, the porridge can be prepared
as in the first recipe, then season the layers with
grated cheese, minced parsley, coralline pepper, and
thick cream, and bake as before. A less delicate,
but quite as nutritious, dish can be prepared with
Indian cornmeal in exactly the same way, and is
the famous polenta of Southern Italy, served in so
many ways.
The above will give some idea of the enormous
variety of savouries which an intelligent and willing
cook can evolve (all of which, I may observe, have
been prepared by, nominally, the plainest of plain
cooks, who had no idea of the society names of the
dishes she sent up, or she would have struck at
once!); but naturally, in a book of this size, it is
impossible to do more than give samples, for
one might fill several books with nothing but
savouries, and yet leave a large aftermath for
subsequent collectors.