RICE WITH MUSHROOMS

10 mushrooms if canned, or 5 or 6 if fresh ones
3/4 of a cup of rice

Chop up a little onion, parsley, celery, and carrot together, and put
them on the fire with two tablespoons of good olive-oil. When this
sauce is colored, add two tablespoons of tomato paste, thinned with
hot water (or a corresponding quantity of tomato sauce). Season with
salt and pepper. Cut the mushrooms into small pieces, and add them to
the sauce. Cook for twenty minutes over a medium fire. Put on one
side and prepare the rice as follows:

Fry the rice with a lump of butter until dry; then add hot water, a
little at a time, and boil gently. When the rice is half cooked (after
about ten minutes) add the mushrooms and sauce, and cook for another
ten minutes. Add grated Parmesan cheese before serving.


POLENTA
(_Indian Meal_)

3/4 of a cup of yellow Indian meal (fine)
3 cups of water

Put the water into a granite or iron saucepan, add salt. When it
begins to boil add the Indian meal, little by little. Keep stirring
constantly as you pour it in, to prevent lumps. Boil for one-half