=Plain Asparagus.=--Take a bundle of asparagus, scrape the white of
each stalk lightly, put them in cold water. Then tie them in bundles
of twenty-five, or, if very large, of twelve or fifteen, keep the
heads together, and keep the ends of one length. Cook them quickly for
fifteen minutes in two quarts of boiling water, in which one ounce of
salt has been put. Dish up on a piece of toast and serve very hot with
oiled fresh butter (not sauce) or Dutch sauce.
=Dutch Sauce.=--Rub four ounces of butter to a cream in a saucepan
or bowl, add four yolks of eggs, beat well together and put in half a
teaspoonful of salt, the juice of half a lemon, a pinch of Cayenne, and
a cupful of hot water, poured in by degrees, mix well, and put in a
“bain-marie.” Stir until the sauce becomes of the consistency of thick
cream. Be careful it does not boil, or it will curdle. Take it off the
fire and stir for some minutes. Dutch sauce ought to be quite smooth
and creamy. Half these quantities of butter and eggs would make an
excellent dish.
=Asparagus à l’Espagnolle.=--Cut off the green heads of a bunch of
asparagus and wash well, boil for fifteen minutes in salted boiling
water, strain carefully. Put in a saucepan two ounces of butter, stir
in one good tablespoonful of flour, add half a pint of cream or milk,
and a little pepper and salt. Stir carefully, let it boil for three
minutes, add the asparagus heads and serve very hot.
=Asparagus à la Suprême.=--Choose asparagus of about the same size,
break off the tenderest part with your finger and cut into small bits,
cooking the tips last. Put them into salted boiling water, boil for
fifteen minutes, then drain, and place in a baking pan with a little
melted fresh butter. Put on the fire for a few minutes, add some salt
and lemon juice. Serve hot.
=Asparagus à la Pompadour.=--Cut cleaned asparagus into two-inch
lengths, boil until tender in salted water, and drain. Bring to the
boil two tablespoonfuls of vinegar and one tablespoonful of butter,
salt and pepper to season. When boiling, take from the fire, add the
well-beaten yolk of an egg, pour over the asparagus, and serve.
=Asparagus Soufflé.=--Take some asparagus (previously boiled) and rub
it through a sieve. Add the yolks of three well-beaten eggs and three
tablespoonfuls of milk, with pepper and salt to taste. Beat the whites
to a stiff froth, mix in, add the asparagus purée, and put in buttered
soufflé dishes and bake for ten minutes. This makes a tasty course for
a luncheon or dinner.
=Asparagus Omelette.=--Beat six eggs, whites and yolks separately, add
three tablespoonfuls of cream or milk, cut the green part of thirty-six
heads of asparagus (which have been previously boiled) in small pieces,
mix with the eggs, add a spoonful of grated Parmesan cheese, pepper,
and cook in an omelette pan in which an ounce of butter has been
dissolved. Serve very hot.
=Asparagus Omelette (2).=--Break four eggs into a bowl and beat
until light and foamy without separating whites and yolks. Add four
tablespoonfuls of cream or rich milk, a saltspoonful of salt, and a
dash of pepper. Have a smooth, clean omelette pan ready, and melt a
tablespoonful of butter or vegetable oil in it, tilting it so that it
will run all over the pan to grease the sides as well as the bottom.
When hissing hot pour in the egg mixture. As it cools, prick in several
places with a fork until the whole is of a creamy consistency. Have in
readiness several spoonfuls of cooked asparagus points, mixed with a
little melted butter, a few drops of lemon juice, and a tablespoonful
of chopped parsley. Slip the omelette on to a sheet of kitchen paper on
a hot dish, put on one half the asparagus tips, fold over, and slip off
the paper on to a hot dish and send to table quickly; nothing spoils so
quickly as an omelette. Three minutes waste of time makes it as tough
as leather. If liked, the edges of the omelette may be garnished with
more asparagus tips.
=Asparagus Mould.=--Well butter a pudding mould, put in a layer of the
tender part of cooked asparagus cut up small, next a layer of cooked
green peas, then two hard-boiled eggs cut in slices, another layer of
asparagus, and lastly of peas. Beat up three eggs, stir in two ounces
of flour rolled in one ounce of butter, add a cupful of milk, stirring
all the time, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour the mixture into the
mould, cover with buttered paper, steam for two hours, turn out on to a
hot dish, and serve with white sauce round it.
=Aspérge à la Mousseline.=--Place cooked and well-drained asparagus on
square or diamond slices of toast; keep hot. Prepare a sauce beforehand
by heating two ounces of butter with the yolks of four eggs, and two
tablespoonfuls of lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Cook in a
double pan until it thickens, then add two tablespoonfuls of butter in
small pieces, and two tablespoonfuls of cream or a little more. Pour
very hot over the asparagus and toast. Serve immediately.
=Baked Asparagus.=--Cook the asparagus in boiling salted water until
tender, drain, and put into a buttered baking dish with a little grated
Parmesan cheese between the layers. Chop a small onion finely and fry
in butter, and spread over the asparagus, and sprinkle with cheese and
crumbs, and brown in a hot oven.
=Asparagus Baked with Cheese.=--Prepare according to directions given
for boiled asparagus. Make a sauce of three tablespoonfuls each of
butter and flour, one cupful of water and half a cupful of cream or
milk, let it boil for three minutes, add the yolks of two eggs, and two
tablespoonfuls of grated cheese. Heat thoroughly but do not boil. Lay
the asparagus full length into an oval buttered baking dish, cover with
the sauce, and sprinkle with cheese. Repeat until the dish is full,
having sauce on the top. Sprinkle with crumbs and cheese, dot with
butter, and bake for half an hour.
=Asparagus Tips à la Polonaise.=--Clean and cut some asparagus three
or four inches long, season with salt and pepper, and put them in a
buttered paper bag with a teaspoonful of fried bread-crumbs and a
little melted butter. Close the bag and cook in a moderate oven for
half an hour.--_Newark News._
=Asparagus “Alla Casalinga.”=--Take fifty heads of asparagus and
cook the green part in boiling salted water, then drain and put the
asparagus into a baking dish with four ounces of butter (or two ounces
would suffice). Sprinkle with grated cheese, salt and pepper to taste,
brown slightly, garnish with eggs fried in butter. Serve hot.--Mrs.
ROSS, _Leaves from a Tuscan Kitchen_.
=Asparagus “Alla Crema.”=--Take the heads only of the asparagus, as
many as are required; put them into boiling water with a little salt;
boil for fifteen minutes. Prepare meanwhile some thick squares of roll
or white bread without the crust, scoop out the centre of each piece
without breaking through, and put in a piece of butter, then fry or
bake until the bread turns a golden-yellow colour. After draining the
heads of the asparagus, place them in the holes in the bread. Take care
to keep them hot. Then heat half a pint of milk and two or three yolks
of eggs, and stir until it thickens to a smooth custard, but it must
not boil. Take off the fire, and add a little butter and a sprinkling
of salt and pepper. Pour over the asparagus and croûtons, and serve
very hot.--Mrs. ROSS, _Leaves from a Tuscan Kitchen_.
=Baked Asparagus with Eggs.=--Cut the tender parts of the asparagus
into half-inch lengths, boil until tender in salted water. Drain, and
mix with a drawn-butter sauce, seasoning with salt and pepper, and pour
into a buttered baking dish. Break five or six eggs carefully on the
surface, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and put into the oven until the
eggs have set.
=Asparagus Tips Sauté.=--Boil the tips until cooked, about fifteen
minutes, in salted water, then drain them thoroughly. Sauté in melted
butter, season with salt and pepper, grated nutmeg, and a little sugar.
=Creamed Asparagus.=--Boil the green parts of the asparagus until
tender in salted water with a tiny bit of soda, drain and chop. Reheat
in cream sauce. Season with salt and pepper, and cool; stir into it
three eggs, well beaten, with two tablespoonfuls of cream. Pour into a
buttered baking dish, cover, and bake for twenty minutes, but do not
let it boil; then uncover and brown.
=Crême Asparagus.=--Cut the heads of the asparagus into two-inch
lengths. Parboil for ten minutes in salted water and drain. Put a
heaped tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan, when hot sprinkle with a
tablespoonful of flour, add a cupful of boiling milk, salt and pepper
to season; cook until thick, stirring all the time.
=Asparagus with Egg Sauce.=--Cook three cupfuls of asparagus tips until
tender, and drain. Reheat one cupful of cream sauce, put the rest into
a well-buttered baking dish, pour over the asparagus, and set the dish
in a pan of boiling water, and put into the oven for fifteen minutes.
Sprinkle with parsley, and serve with egg sauce.
=Escalloped Asparagus.=--Wash and cut up a bunch of asparagus,
discarding the tough ends. Boil in salted water about twenty minutes
until tender, and drain. Boil three eggs hard, throw into cold water,
remove the shells, and chop finely. Butter a shallow baking dish, and
put in a layer of asparagus, covered with chopped eggs, sprinkle with
grated cheese, repeat until the dish is full, having asparagus on the
top. Pour over four tablespoonfuls of drawn butter or half a pint of
cream sauce, cover with crumbs, dot with butter, sprinkle with grated
cheese, and bake until brown.
=Asparagus Fricassée.=--Clean and cut up twenty-five stalks of
asparagus, discarding the tough ends, drain and chop one head of
lettuce, half a head of endive, and a small onion. Put a heaped
tablespoonful of butter into a saucepan and cook in it a tablespoonful
of flour, add one cupful of milk or water, and stir until it thickens.
Stir constantly, add the chopped vegetables, with salt and pepper to
season; simmer over a slow fire for half an hour, and serve very hot.
=Ragout of Asparagus.=--Chop finely a little parsley, two or three
young onions, and a few leaves of lettuce, fry them brown in butter,
dredge with flour, add a cupful of water, and salt and pepper to
season. Reheat the cooked asparagus in this sauce, sprinkle with grated
nutmeg, and serve very hot.
=Asparagus= (_American Recipe_).--Take thick slices of bread about
two inches thick, and stamp them out into neat rounds with a biscuit
cutter; with a smaller cutter mark a circle in the centre of each,
round and scoop out the crumbs to the depth of an inch, taking care to
leave the sides and bottom quite firm; arrange these in a shallow dish
and pour over them half a pint of milk to which a beaten egg has been
added. Then take up carefully and fry in a frying basket in a pan of
boiling fat. They will brown immediately, and must be removed when a
pale golden brown; drain on kitchen paper. Cut the tender part of the
asparagus into pieces of an equal size, rejecting that which is woody.
Wash, and simmer in salted water until tender, and drain. Put a heaped
tablespoonful of butter into a saucepan with a heaped tablespoonful of
flour, then add a quarter of a pint of the water in which the asparagus
was cooked; let it come to the boil and add the asparagus, the juice
of a lemon, and one teaspoonful of finely chopped parsley. Fill the
canapes with this mixture and arrange on a dish and garnish with cress
or parsley and sliced lemon.
=Asparagus à la Tartare.=--Cool cooked asparagus on ice, and serve very
cold with mayonnaise or Tartare sauce.
=Tartare Sauce.=--Mix six tablespoonfuls of olive oil, two of vinegar,
two teaspoonfuls of French mustard, salt and pepper to taste, and a
pinch of sugar. Bring to the boil and pour hot over boiled and drained
asparagus. Cover, stand on ice, and serve very cold.
=Asparagus à la Tyson.=--Boil the asparagus in salted water, drain,
cut the strings, and arrange on buttered toast. Cook together a
tablespoonful each of butter and flour, add a cupful of the water
in which the asparagus was boiled, and cook until thick, stirring
constantly. Season with salt, red and black pepper, and pour over the
asparagus and serve.
BASIL (_Ocymum Basilicum. Labiatæ_).
Sow in pans in a hotbed in April. Transplant in May into a light,
rich border, setting the plants nine inches apart. The flower stems
should be cut as soon as ready and dried for winter use, in the way of
lavender. They are used for seasoning, as also are the young leaves,
which the plants will continue to grow until the frosts.
BROAD BEAN (_Vicia Faba. Leguminosæ_).
Broad beans may be grown in any good garden soil, but they prefer a
rich, well-drained loam. A sandy loam will produce early and mid-season
crops, but will be found to be too hot for late crops; while a heavy
soil is more suited to mid-season and late crops than to early ones.
The ground for beans should be prepared early in the autumn, and in
light soils plenty of manure trenched in will keep the plants growing
through a dry season. In a light soil a sowing may be made during open
weather in mid-December. This early sowing gives the beans time to get
their roots well down, out of the reach of drought, and will yield in
June, but about once in five years frost and damp will destroy the
whole sowing.
In normal soils February is perhaps early enough to make the first
sowing, and in heavier ground, March. Where there is plenty of space,
if late beans are in great request, sowings may be made till mid-June
in heavy soils, but in moderately light ground it is not worth while to
sow after April. March and April are the best months, however, in the
generality of gardens for successional sowings.
Where an extra early supply is needed, sow in boxes in gentle heat,
early in February; grow on in cold frames as soon as up; harden off and
plant out early in March. A sheltered and warm border must be chosen
for this planting, and the plants should be set in rows two feet apart,
the plants six inches in the row. This procedure should provide broad
beans about the 14th of June.
Some gardeners plant beans with a dibber, but it is much better
practice to open out a trench six inches wide with the hoe, and place
the beans in this trench in two rows, the beans nine inches apart in
the row, and set W fashion. This method ensures the seed being planted
at an even depth, and obviates any poaching of the soil by the dibber,
which always tends to leave a cylindrical hole with compressed sides.
The double rows of beans should be thirty inches apart.
In June, when the beans are well in flower, they are too often attacked
by the black aphis. This may be washed off and killed by syringing
with an emulsion of soft soap and paraffin. It is good practice to
break off the infected tops and burn them. Topping the plants will be
no detriment, but will throw the strength back into the pods already
forming. Finally, gather the beans as soon as they are at all large
enough to cook; old beans are good, but young beans are far better.