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and cut the pork or bacon into squares. Remove the outer leaves of the blanched cabbage, put it on a board, open it out carefully and cut out the hard inside stalk and centre. Season with pepper, a scrap of nutmeg, and a very little salt, and then pack in the chestnuts and bacon. Reshape the leaves round the stuffing, tie the cabbage into its original shape with tape, and put into an earthenware or enamel-lined pot in which it will just fit. Over the top lay the outside leaves which have been removed, and which will prevent the top of the cabbage drying up. Pour over the stock, cover the pan and cook in a very slow oven for 5 hours. To serve, extract it very carefully from the pot and put it in the serving dish before removing the tape. Pour the juice over it. Enough for four.

CHOU ROUGE À L’AIGRE-DOUX

SWEET-SOUR RED CABBAGE

A small red cabbage (about 2 lb.), 2 medium-sized onions, 2 cooking apples, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons each of port or other dessert wine and wine vinegar, a bouquet of parsley, thyme and bayleaf, salt, pepper.

Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage, cut off the stalk, cut the cabbage in quarters and cut out the hard white stalk. Slice the cabbage fairly thinly.

Arrange in layers in a deep earthenware pot alternately with the sliced onions and peeled, cored and sliced apples. Season as you go with the sugar, salt and pepper. Put the bouquet, tied with thread, in the middle. When all ingredients are packed into the pot, pour over the wine and vinegar. Cover the pot; cook for about 3 hours in a low oven, Gas No. 2, 310 deg. F.

This amount is enough for four if served as an accompanying vegetable, and can very well be prepared a day in advance, as it improves, if anything, with reheating. This goes well with roast hare and with sausages, goose and pork.

LES COURGETTES

These are very small marrows, grown from varieties of which the fruit can be picked while immature. Courgettes vary in size from about 2 inches to 8 inches long. Their initial preparation is much the same as that of aubergines; they are left unpeeled, or if they are rather large the rough ridge parts are pared off, leaving the courgettes with a striped appearance. They are sliced, salted and left to drain, then dried and sauté in oil or butter. When properly treated courgettes are most delicate and make one of the best soufflés in existence, for which the recipe is on page 202.

Courgettes, however, are versatile as well as delicate. They can be stewed in oil with tomatoes and/or onions and served hot or cold; they can be fried in butter; or cut into long thin slices, dipped in batter and deep-fried to make delicious fritters; they can be cut into miniature chips and deep-fried as the Italians like them; they can be stuffed with rice, or puréed and mixed with cheese to make a gratin; they can be plainly boiled, sliced and mixed with oil and lemon for a salad; halved lengthways, the flesh scooped out and the shells fried; the larger ones can even be stuffed with a Lobster Mornay mixture to make a charming and original dish like the one John Stais serves at the White Tower Restaurant in Charlotte Street.

COURGETTES FINES HERBES

COURGETTES WITH FRESH HERBS

Wash but do not peel the little courgettes. Slice them into thin bias-cut rounds. Sprinkle with salt; leave in a colander with a plate and a weight on top for an hour so that excess moisture drains off. Put them in a saucepan with a ladle of water and cook gently for 10 minutes. Drain. For 1 lb. of courgettes heat 1 oz. of butter in a frying-pan and let the courgettes finish cooking in this quite gently. Turn them over once or twice and shake the pan so that they do not stick. When they are tender, stir in a tablespoon of finely-chopped parsley, chervil or chives and a squeeze of lemon juice. Enough for two or three.

Good with veal, chicken, steak and lamb, and as a separate vegetable dish.

COURGETTES AUX TOMATES

COURGETTES WITH TOMATOES

1 lb. small courgettes, lb. tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper.

If the courgettes are very small,