Cream of Lettuce

With croutons or toast, cream of lettuce soup makes a splendid hot lunch on a cold day.

Wash well three good-sized heads of lettuce, drain, chop, place them in a saucepan with about one-fourth pound of butter and cook for five minutes, stirring lightly. Moisten with two quarts of broth, and season with one tablespoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of pepper, and one-half teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, add a garnished bunch of parsley and four or five ounces of well cleaned raw rice; cover the saucepan and cook for forty-five minutes; then remove the parsley, and strain through a fine sieve. Clean the saucepan well, pour the soup into it again, and let it come nearly to the boil, stirring meanwhile with a spatula. Pour in one pint of sweet cream, stir it a little more, and turn it into a hot tureen. Serve with sippets of toast or croutons of fried bread.