ing dish. Begin
by using half of the sauce and sprinkling on a lot of grated
cheese. After the eggs are in, pour on the rest of the sauce,
cover it with grated cheese and bread crumbs, drop in bits of
butter, and cook until brown in oven (or about 12 minutes).

Tomatoes au Gratin

Cover bottom of shallow baking pan with slices of tomato and
sprinkle liberally with bread crumbs and grated cheese, season
with salt, pepper and dots of butter, add another layer of
tomato slices, season as before and continue this, alternating
with cheese, until pan is full. Add a generous topping of crumbs,
cheese and butter. Bake 50 minutes in moderate oven.

Onion Soup au Gratin

4 or 5 onions, sliced
4 or 5 tablespoons butter
1 quart stock or canned consomme
1 quart bouillon made from dissolving 4 or 5 cubes
Rounds of toasted French bread
1-1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

Saute onions in butter in a roomy saucepan until light golden,
and pour the stock over. When heated put in a larger casserole,
add the bouillon, season to taste and heat to boiling point. Let
simmer 15 minutes and serve in deep well-heated soup plates, the
bottoms covered with rounds of toasted French bread which have
been heaped with freshly grated Parmesan and browned under the
broiler. More cheese is served for guests to sprinkle on as
desired.

At gala parties, where wine flows, a couple of glasses of champagne
are often added to the bouillon.

In the famed onion soup _au gratin_ at Les Halles in Paris, grated
Gruyere is used in place of Parmesan. They are interchangeable in this
recipe.

AMERICAN CHEESE SOUPS

In this era of fine canned soups a quick cheese soup is made by
heating cream of tomato soup, ready made, and adding finely
grated Swiss or Parmesan to taste. French bread toasted and
topped with more cheese and broiled golden makes the best base to
pour this over, as is done with the French onion soup above.

The same cheese toasts are the basis of a simple milk-cheese
soup, with heated milk poured over and a seasoning of salt,
pepper, chopped chives, or a dash of nutmeg.

Chicken Cheese Soup

Heat together 1 cup milk, 1 cup water in which 2 chicken bouillon
cubes have been dissolved, and 1 can of condensed cream of
chicken soup. Stir in 1/4 cup grated American Cheddar cheese and