Green Pea Soup

Prepare a quart of large peas, a good handful of parsley, the same of green onions, and two handfuls of green mint; boil these in three pints of water with a bit of butter and a little salt; and as soon as the peas are done, drain their liquor into a pan and reserve it; pound the peas in a mortar; mix them with the liquor the peas were boiled in; rub through the tammy or sieve, and pour the puree into a soup-pot.

When about to send to table, make the soup hot by stirring it over the fire without allowing it to boil; add a pat of butter, a little pepper and salt, a dessert- spoonful of sugar, and about two ounces of glaze; serve hot, with fried crusts on a plate, separately.

Note.—The fried crusts are prepared as follows: viz., —take a piece of the crumb of a stale half-quartern loaf, say a fourth part, and cut this into slices less than a quarter of an inch thick, and again cut up these slices into very even small squares; these must be fried in a stewpan, with about an ounce of butter, over the fire— care being taken to toss them lightly and almost continuously while they are being fried; and when they assume a light golden-brown shade, drain off the butter, and place them upon clean paper to absorb the grease.