Wash and clean a bunch of asparagus and cook in boiling water slightly salted. When cooked and dried, arrange them in a dish, one-half on one side, one-half on the other, so that the heads meet in the middle. Melt four ounces of fresh butter in a frying-pan, add a little flour and some good broth, mix well together and boil, then add one or two bay leaves, some chopped parsley and onion, salt and pepper to taste, and three well-beaten-up yolks of eggs. Boil for five minutes, add a little lemon juice, pour the sauce over the asparagus, and serve up very hot.
Beans (Broad) ‘al Burro.’
Shell one quart of fresh young broad beans and put them in cold water. Put two quarts of water in a sauce-pan and add a slice of ham, a stick of celery, a bunch of parsley, three cloves, twenty peppercorns, and one bay leaf. Boil for a quarter of an hour, then take out the ham, etc., and put in the beans. Strain as soon as they are tender, add four ounces of fresh butter and put them on the fire for a few minutes before serving.
Beans (Broad) ‘alla Romana.’
Chop up one small onion and four or five sage leaves, and fry brown in butter. Put in a quart of young shelled broad beans, cover them with boiling water and stew over a very slow fire for twenty minutes, add the strained juice of six tomatoes (or some tomato conserve), with salt and pepper to taste. Add boiling water whenever necessary, and stir often, to prevent the beans from sticking to the sauce-pan. Stew for twenty or twenty-five minutes, and serve very hot.
Beans (Broad) ‘alla Turca.’
Take a quart of young broad bean pods, about two inches long, cut them in half and put them in cold water. Then cook them in a sauce-pan with two quarts of boiling water. Drain, and again put them in cold water. Mince some ham and fry it with a little butter in a sauce-pan, throw your beans in, toss, and heat them for ten minutes. Add three tablespoonfuls good stock before serving up hot.
Beans (Broad) ‘al Vino.’
Take quite young shelled broad beans and stew them in a sauce-pan with a little browned onion, some ham, butter, sweet herbs, and flour; moisten well with broth, add a quarter of a pint of sweet white wine, and three spoonfuls of sugar. Serve hot.