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VOL-AU-VENT (a la Normande)

Make a vol-au-vent case according to the instructions already given, bake it, lift off the cover, and have ready to fill it a good ragout. Put on the lid, and serve the vol-au-vent on a dish covered with a napkin. The ragout may be prepared as follows. Fillet a large sole, put it on a buttered dish, and sprinkle upon it a tea-spoonful of very finely-minced onions which have been previously par-boiled. Pour upon it as much milk or light wine as will barely cover it, and bake till done enough. Divide it into neat slices of uniform size, and put these in a stewpan with an equal quantity of oysters which have been plumped in their liquor, mussels which have been shaken over the fire in a stewpan till their shells opened, mushrooms which have been stewed in butter, and pieces of the crumb of bread about the size of a crown piece which have been fried in butter until they became lightly browned. Take as much veloute sauce as will cover the ingredients, put it into a saucepan, and stir in the oyster liquor, the mussel broth, and the gravy from the sole. Let it simmer till very thick. Beat the yolks of two eggs in a basin, mix a spoonful or two of the sauce with them, and add them to the rest. Simmer the sauce for a minute or two without allowing it to boil, and pour it over the fish. Let all heat very gently together for three or four minutes, and the ragout will be ready for the vol-au-vent.