The art of cooking

Note — Canned tomatoes will answer for this farci, and when used, the half of a quart can will be sufficient. Boiled Asparagus "with White Sauce. — For this provide : one bunch of asparagus, two ounces of butter, one ounce of flour, one gill of milk, two tablespoonfuls of cream, one saltspoonful of salt, one saltspoonful of pepper. Trim the asparagus and cut it into equal lengths, wash it in cold water and putting it into a saucepan, cover with boiling water, and shut the lid of the saucepan for the first moment ; when the water boils up vig- GREEN PEAS. orously, take off the cover and let the asparagus boil for twenty minutes. Five minutes before the asparagus is done, take a small saucepan, and mixing it in the butter and the flour, add to this by degrees a gill and a half of the liquor in which the asparagus is boiling. Stir this with the butter and flour until the mixture boils, when the milk should be added, and two minutes additional boiling allowed. Season with the salt and pepper, and drawing the saucepan aside from the fire, stir into it the cream. Take the asparagus from the water at the expiration of the twenty minutes, and drain it upon a wire sieve, place it in a vegetable dish and pour the sauce carefully around and across the tips, exercising caution not to spatter the ends of the stalks that are to be taken in the fingers. Notes — Asparagus may be boiled in the above manner, and served upon toast instead of with the white sauce. A very simple manner of boiling this vegetable, is to stand the unbroken bundle of asparagus upon the stalk end upright in a saucepan containing boiling water enough to reach nearly to the tender green tips. It must be boiled rapidly until tender, and then, preparing a hot napkin upon a platter, take the asparagus from the water, and draining it for a moment, place it upon the napkin, cut the bands and draw them away, and fold over all snugly the ends of the napkin. The white sauce which is used for this, must be served in a gravy boat. A favorite way of serving boiled asparagus, is to make it very cold by standing in the ice-box, and then serve with a sauce piquant, composed of vinegar, pepper, salt and salad oil. In this way, asparagus may be used as a salad. Green Peas. — One quart of shelled peas, one ounce of butter, one-half teaspoonful of powdered sugar, one teaspoonful of salt, one-half teaspoonful of pepper, one sprig of mint. Place the peas in a large saucepan of boiling water, in which should be thrown the sprig of mint, and covering, let them boil rapidly from ten to twenty minutes, as the age of the peas may require. The moment the peas are done, they must be taken from the water and drained, as over cooking spoils them. While the peas are draining, melt the butter, in the saucepan in which they have been cooked, and when this is melted, throw back into it the peas, sprinkle over them the pepper, salt and sugar, and, covering the saucepan, shake it over the fire until the peas are very hot, taking care that they neither brown nor break. ' Turnips. — For this take : six turnips, two tablespoonsfuls of beef dripping, one teaspoonful of salt, onehalf teaspoonful of pepper, one tablespoonful of cream. First pare the turnips, taking care to cut off the white lining of the skin which is bitter, and the thickness of which will be perceived by the clearly defined circle discovered in cutting off the top. Wash the turnips thoroughly in cold water to whiten them and remove the finger marks, and putting them into a saucepan, cover them with boiling water, and closing the lid pf the saucepan boil them rapidly until a fork will easily penetrate to their centres. When done, drain the water well off them, add the beefdripping, pepper and salt, and with a potato-masher mash them finely, using a fork occasionally to break the lumps.