Asparagus alla Lombarda

Ingredients

• two to four ounces of butter
• a little pepper
• a little salt

Method

1. 1

   Boil the bundle of Asparagus, place it in a fire-proof dish with the heads in the middle and the white stalks round the edge.

2. 2

   Add pepper and salt.

3. 3

   Put butter in the middle of the dish and set it on a tripod over the fire for eight to ten minutes.

4. 4

   Sprinkle thickly with finely-grated Parmesan cheese and serve in the dish.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book (1898) by Roundell, Charles Mrs, page 222. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

ASPARAGUS ALLA LOMBARDA 321 middle and tlae white stalks round the edge. Add a little pepper and salt. Put two to four ounces of butter in the middle of the dish, and set the dish on a tripod over the fire for from eight to ten minutes. Sprinkle the Asparagus thickly with finely-grated Parmesan cheese, and serve in the fire-proof dish. Asparagus a la Chateail-roux.— When the Asparagus is cooked, dry it carefully, keep it hot, and pour over it a sauce made of one ounce of butter thickened with the yolks of two eggs well beaten, a squeeze of lemon, pepper and salt. Be careful not to use any of the whites of the eggs, and heat the sauce in the bain-marie. AUBERGINES. It is a pity that Aubergines, the fruit of the Egg Plant, Solatium melmgena, ovigerum, are not more frequently culti- vated in England, for the plant is very decorative and the fruit useful. In France and Italy Aubergines are much eaten, but those imported are generally spoilt by their arrival here when full grown.. The best kind of Aubergine is the New York Purple. Gardeners are apt to grow this for exhibition and to cause a single fruit to weigh as much as ten or twelve pounds. But Aubergines for cooking should be gathered when they are only two or three inches long ; the seeds are not then formed, and the flavour is delicate. Aubergines can be fried in slices as beignets, or cut open lengthways and some of the pulp removed, mixed with grated breadcrumbs, pepper and salt, and either the yolk of an egg or a little cream. This stuffing is put back into the Aubergines, the two halves joined together and tied, and the fruit baked in a buttered tin. A sliced lemon should be handed with them. It is an im- provement to warm the stuffing in a gill of vegetable stock before filling the Aubergines. If fairly large they will take nearly half an hour to bake. Aubergines when small are good if simmered till tender and served with either white or brown sauce. Or they can be, when cooked, cut open and filled as fonds d'artichauts a la Barigoule. Wyvern gives an excellent recipe for Aubergines au gratin. Parboil four very small Aubergines. Y 322 AUBERGINES Let them get cold, cut them in halves lengthways, pick out the seeds with the point of a vegetable knife, butter them, and dredge over the surface of each a layer of grated Parmesan cheese. Arrange the Aubergines on a well-buttered fire-proof dish, and bake them for ten minutes. Pour round them a cupful of well-made thick brown sauce, and serve in the dish they were cooked in. In the South of France Aubergines and Vegetable Marrows are cooked a la Provencals. For this the Aubergines or Marrows are cut open lengthways, the seeds scooped out, a little salt

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.