One pint of lentils
Water
Two ounces of butter
A little onion juice
Pepper and salt to taste
Two tablespoonfuls of cream

"Leave one pint of lentils in cold water for twelve hours. Strain, put them into hot water, and boil them rapidly ; then cook them slowly for about an hour, drain them well, put them back into boiling water and cook until quite soft. Pass them through a sieve, and put them into a sauce-pan with two ounces of butter, a very little onion juice, pepper and salt to taste, and stir for a quarter of an hour over the fire.

Serve up very hot. Two tablespoonfuls of cream are a good addition."

This recipe was taken from "Leaves from our Tuscan Kitchen or, How to Cook Vegetables" by Ann Janet Ross. The book was published by JM Dent & Co. in 1900 (London). For the complete cookbook see www.archive.org. For a variety of recipes from this cookbook see Italy Revisited/ "XXX Cookbooks in the Public Domain".... Photo: Mary Melfi.

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