French vs. Italian

The Culinary Arts Institute put out both a French and an Italian cookbook in 1954, let's compare:

The French woman certainly is more young and buxom than the Italian one, who even appears a little weary. The interior illustrations only continue the artist's image of young French women full of joie de vivre and Italian matrons full of...well...babies apparently. No wonder she looks sick of rolling out her millionth damn ravioli. What about the recipes, surely the French ones must be easier and less time consuming so our belle femme can get out and enjoy the lights of Paris. Or maybe the Italian ones are easier because this perservering madonna has too many diapers to wash to spend the day over a stove. You decide.

We'll start with hors d'oeuveres versus antipasto.

Bouchees a la Reine (Mouthfuls for the Queen)
Prepare Vol-au-vent shells. (This is puff pastry and while I could write out a recipe here, really, just go get some prepared shells from your grocer's freezer. The book does give a recipe but notes that it takes 9 hours to prepare.)
Prepare and set aside Bechamel sauce
Wipe with a clean damp cloth and cut tips of stems from 3 or 4 medium sized mushrooms. Chop and saute in 1 T butter. Mix with 3-4 T of Bechamel sauce and:
3/4 c finely minced cooked chicken
2 T chopped salted almonds
1 t capers
1/4 t salt
few grains pepper
Reheat baked shells and fill each with about 1 T of the mixture. Top with reserved covers.

Bechamel sauce:
Melt 3 T butter over low heat, stire in 3 T flour, 1/4 t salt, 1/8 t white pepper. Heat until it bubbles, then remove from hear and stir in 3/4 cup cream and 1 T minced onion. Return to heat and bring rapidly to boiling, cook 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.


Carciofi con Limone (Artichokes in Lemon)
Drain and place in refrigerator to chill 1 jar (13 oz.) artichoke hearts
Meanwhile combine 3 T lemon juice, 2 T olive oil, 1 clove garlic finely chopped, 1/4 t salt, 1/8 t pepper. Chill. When ready to serve, stir lemon-olive oil mixture and pour over artichoke hearts.

Pomodori all' Olio (Tomatoes in Oil)
Wash and remove the stem ends and slit lengthwise 6 plum tomatoes. Set aside.
Combine 3 T olive oil, 1 clove garlic, sliced thin, 1/4 t salt, 1/4 t oregano, 1/8 t pepper.
Pour olive oil mnixture over tomatoes and serve.


Next up: Soup!