Asparagus soup may be made in a similar manner to that of green
peas. You must have four or five bunches of asparagus. Cut off the
green tops, and put half of them into the soup, after the meat has
been boiled to pieces and strained out. The asparagus must be
boiled till quite dissolved, and till it has given a green colour
to the soup. Then take the remainder of the asparagus tops (which
must all this time have been lying in cold water) and put them
into the soup, and let them boil about twenty minutes. Serve it up
with small squares of toast in the tureen.
You may heighten the green of this soup by adding the juice of a
handful of spinach, pounded in a mortar and strained. Or you may
colour it with the juice of boiled spinach squeezed through a
cloth. The spinach juice should be put in fifteen or ten minutes
before you take up the soup, as a short boiling in it will take
off the peculiar taste.