Art of Eating Asparagus

Southland Times, Issue 21894, 21 December 1932, Page 5

Art of Eating Asparagus

(Contributed.) Asparagus is one of the most delicious vegetables that the summer brings to us, but we are inclined to get a little tired of it just plain, and often forget that there are many other pleasant ways of serving it. Here are a few. When next we have a chicken let us use the stock we shall make from the trimmings for Asparagus Soup, thus. Cook the asparagus in the usual way (some boil it in water, others stand the bunch upright in water with the tips just out and steam it in this way) and set aside the tips. Now make a white sauce with the chicken stock, butter and flour, and when it is ready add the asparagus tips and season with salt and pepper. Cook this all together for half an hour, then rub through a hair sieve. A little butter and the yolk of an egg beaten up in some cream or milk give the finishing touches to a fragrant summer soup. With an Omelette. Asparagus tips cooked and then tossed in butter make an admirable filling for an omelette, or you can arrange them on hot buttered toast and eat them simply like that or surmounted by some buttered egg. They can also be arranged on the toast, covered with a little grated cheese and just browned very quickly under the grill.

Asparagus with cream is a pleasant light dish. Have your cooked tips ready, but see that they are very well drained. Then to a piece of butter, which wou have melted in a saucepan, add a cupful of cream, salt, pepper and

a grating of nutmeg. Mix together well till boiling, add the asparagus tips and cook all together till the cream reduces and thickens.

Asparagus Fritters. Asparagus fritters are a novelty which your friends will enjoy. Cook the asparagus till it is nearly, but not quite, done. Cut off the tips, not too shortly, and put them in cold water. Drain them and let them dry. Now roll them in flour and tie a few together in little bundles. Dip these in beaten egg and fry in deep fat till golden. Asparagus in the Polish fashion is very pleasant, too. Cook the asparagus and drain it: arrange it on a dish and sprinkle the heads with a mixture of chopped parsley and chopped hot, hardboiled egg-yolks. Just before serving melt some butter in a trying-pan and, when it is foaming, throw in some fine fresh breadcrumbs. When they are golden pour them, with the butter, over the asparagus and bring quickly to table. A Flemish Custom.

We often eye with regret the melted butter which is left on our plates after we have eaten plain boiled asparagus. A Flemish custom obviates this regret by serving with the butter half a hot hard-boiled egg-yolk for each person. The diner then crushes this up with the butter and dips the asparagus into it. Or this kind of sauce can be prepared beforehand by mixing it up with salt and pepper, the proportion being one egg-yolk and one ounce of melted butter for each.

Do not forget that other sauces than melted butter can be eaten with this vegetable. For instance, Hollandaise or Mousseline sauces, or Maltese sauce, which is unusual, and is made simply by adding the juice of two blood oranges and half a coffee spoonful of grated orange rind to an ordinary Hollandaise sauce.

For a sultry evening cold asparagus is particularly suitable, only it must be very cold (iced if possible) and served with an ordinary oil and vinegar dressing, with mayonnaise to which beaten cream has been added.