VEGETABLES WELCOME AS FLOWERS IN SPRING

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 69, 18 October 1940, Page 37

VEGETABLES WELCOME AS FLOWERS IN SPRING

UCH charming poetry has been written about spring flowers. Yet, to the housekeeper, spring vegetables are quite as welcome, and while she delights"in providing table decorations of daffodils or anemones, the family will appreciate these even more if they are but a picturesque accompaniment to asparagus, fresh green peas, or young carrots. Speaking of asparagus I found these neat little verses the other day: Asparagus is very proud, To earth he will not bend; With any lesser vegetable He'll never be a friend. Then what humiliation’s hisToo deep for words to utterWhen he is forced to bow his head Low in our melted butter! Here are some asparagus recipes:To Cook Asparagus Asparagus is so delicious by itself as a separate course that it seems almost a pity to make it into fancy dishes. Wash the stalks carefully, tie them in bundles, and stand them upright in a saucepan containing enough boiling water to well cover the white part. The tips will cook in the steam. Add a little sugar as well as salt to the water, and cook gently for 25 to 30 minutes. Untie the bundles and serve in individual dishes, with a piece of toast underneath to absorb any water. Pour a little hot melted butter over the tips. Asparagus Ciaarettes These make delightful savouries. Prepare some thin triangular slices of fresh white bread, spreading very sparingly with butter and a dusting of grated cheese. On these place cooked asparagus tips, about 3 inches long, and roll them up. Brush over with melted butter and grill a pretty brown all over. Asparagus Souffle Prepare a good white sauce by melting 3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and stirring in 3 tablespoons of flour; then gradually, a cupful of milk and a seasoning of salt and paprika. Stir.continually till boiling. Then stir in a cupful of cooked and chopped asparagus, and add 3 egg yolks well beaten. Lastly, fold in lightly the 3 egg whites whipped stiff. Turn into a well-buttered casserole or pie-dish, or use the pretty individual ramekins of oven-china so popular now, and bake about 20 to 30 minutes in a moderate oven (350 degrees or Regulo 4). Serve at once. Asparagus Souffle Pie Have ready baked a large Flan or Pie-crust Shell of rich pastry. Prepare one cup of chopped cooked asparagus, ¥ cup soft breadcrumbs, 1 cup of white sauce, 3 eggs, and 42 teaspoon of baking

powder. Combine the asparagus, crumbs and white sauce. Add the egg yolks beaten light, and the baking powder. Fold in the egg whites whipped stiff. Transfer to the pie-crust shell and bake in a hot oven, 375 degrees, for about twenty minutes. Asparagus Custard This is an American dish. Beat up 3 eggs lightly, and add 214 cups of milk, 14% tablespoons of melted butter, pepper and salt to taste, a good cupful of cooked and chopped asparagus, and half a teaspoonful of baking powder (which seems strange when no flour is used!) Turn into a greased piedish and bake about half an hour in a moderate oven (350 degrees or Regulo 4). Grilled Asparagus Half cook the asparagus tips in a saucepan in the usual way, as explained in the first recipe. Then take them out, dust them with pepper and salt, and roll them in fine breadcrumbs mixed with a little melted butter. Put them in the already heated grilling pan and grill for about 8 minutes, turning them so that they are browned all over. Sprinkle with a little grated cheese and serve at once. Asparagus Tips with Bacon Cook the asparagus in water as in the first recipe, then arrange on buttered toast and put crisp grilled bacon on top. Serve very hot. Scalloped Asparagus and Macaroni Four tablespoons of flour, 4 tablespoons of butter, 1 teaspoon of salt, a little pepper, 1 cup of asparagus water, 1 cup of milk, 44lb. of cooked asparagus, 2% cups of cooked macaroni, and 12 cup of buttered breadcrumbs. Make a sauce of the flour, butter, seasonings, and asparagus water (which was saved from cooking the asparagus) and the milk. Cut the asparagus in inch lengths. Put a layer of macaroni in a buttered baking dish, then a layer of asparagus and sauce, and repeat until the ingredients are used. Finish with the crumbs and bake in a moderate oven till browned, about twenty minutes. Asparagus Spring Salad This is most delicious. Pile up cooked asparagus on individual salad plates, allowing about six stalks to each person. Arrange crisp heart-leaves of lettuce around, and pour over a little French Dressing, mixed with minced chives. Sprinkle with tiny crisp croutons of bread fried in butter, and garnish with red radishes peeled backwards to look like flowers. Asparagus Shrimp Ramekins One and a quarter cups of white sauce, 144 cups diced cooked asparagus,

¥%, cup tinned shrimps, broken into pieces; a teaspoon of lemon juice, a few drops of onion juice, a dash of salt and paprika, % cup of buttered bread crumbs. Combine the sauce, asparagus,

shrimps, lemon and onion juice. Season highly with the salt.and paprika. Transfer to buttered ramekins, cover with the bread crumbs, and bake until brown in a moderate oven, about 350 degrees.