Asparagus, Italian Fashion

Ingredients

• the asparagus
• a little oil
• a little vinegar
• pepper
• salt

Method

1. 1

   Break the tops of the asparagus into pieces and boil until soft.

2. 2

   Drain the water, then boil oil, water, and vinegar together, seasoning with pepper and salt.

3. 3

   Add the asparagus and thicken with egg yolks.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The thorough good cook (1895) by George Augustus Sala, page 199. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Asparagus, Italian Fashion. Tiike the asparagus, break the tops in pieces, then boil them soft, and drain the water from them; take a httle oil, water, and vinegar, let it boil ; season it with pepper and salt; throw in the asparagus, and thicken with the yolks of eggs. 48. Forced Asparagus in French Rolls. Take out the crumb of three French rolls by first cutting- a piece of the top crust off, and be careful that the crust fits again the same place. Fry the rolls brown in fresh butter ; then take a pint of cream, the yolks of six eggs beaten fine, a little salt and nutmeg ; stir these Avell together over a slow fire till the mixture begins to thicken. Have prepared a hundred of small grass boiled, but save tops suffi- cient to stick in the rolls ; cut the remainder small and put into the cream, filling the loaves with them. Before frying the balls, make holes thick in the top crust, and stick in the tops you have reserved ; then lay on the piece of crust, and make the grass look as if growing. 49. Asparagus in Croustade. Mix up the yolks of four eggs in some paste made of macai'oni flour, then form it into an under-crust, cut it into a band nineteen niches long and two inches and a quarter wide. With the cuttings of j^our paste form a circle ten inches in diameter, and around this put your band in form of a crous- tade, pinch up your paste into proper shape, and ornament it lightly round ; glaze it, and put it to dry in a slow oven. This done, take a fine head of asparagus and place it, standing upright-, in the middle of your croustade ; surround this with VEGETABLES. 371 six more heads of asparagus nine inches in length, and en- circle these with twelve more eight inches in length. Add two more rounds of asparagus heads, the one six inches and the other hve inches in lenoth. 50, Asparagus in Cream. Choose the finest asparagus, and dress it as usual ; parboil half a pint of cream and a little butter and flour, shake it about, and when the butter is melted, season moderately, and pour over the asparagus. 51. Ragout of Asparagus. Take one hundred grass, scrape and clean them, and throw them into cold water ; cut them as far as they are good and green ; pick and wash clean and cut very small two heads of endive ; take also a young lettuce, clean washed and cut small, and a large onion, peeled and cut small. Put a quarter of a pound of butter into a stew- pan, and when it is melted, throw in the above ingredients. Toss them about, and fry them ten minutes. Season them with a little pe^Dper and salt, shake in a little flour, again toss them about, and pour in half a pint of gravy. Let them stew till the sauce is very thick and good, and then pour all into your dish. You may make use of a few of the small tops of the grass for garnish. 52. Articliokes k la St. Cloud, Trim and boil them till the chokes come out; then drain and let them cool; have ready as many small pigeons Y 2 372 THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK. stewed and well-seasoned as you have artichokes, each of which must be stuffed with a pigeon ; dip them in good batter made of flour, eggs, a spoonful of oil, and a little salt ; fry in a very hot pan with plenty of dripping. 53. Artichokes, Bordeaux Fashion. Trim your artichokes and blanch twenty minutes, place them in cold water, then scoop out the interior with the handle of a spoon, taking out every particle from the in- side, and have ready the following sauce : — Peel thirty large button onions and cut them in rings, put them in a stew- pan with a little oil

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