Vintage Recipe Thursday – Spring Is Asparagus Season
Apr 15th, 2010 by Grandmother Wren
Found both wild and cultivated, asparagus is another early vegetable to enjoy. Thomas Jefferson reserved one of his many gardens at Monticello to grow asparagus.
Asparagus is a perennial plant that is native to the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor areas. The name “asparagus” comes from the Greek language meaning “sprout” or “shoot” and it is a member of the lily family as are onions, garlic, leeks, turnips and gladioli. The ancient Greeks loved wild asparagus but it was the Romans who first cultivated it.
Here are a couple of Early New England recipes for asparagus.
Boiled Asparagus
Cut off the lower parts of stalks, which are thick and tough. Wash and scrape the asparagus and tie in bunches. Place in boiling salted water and cook for 15 minutes. Drain, remove the string and pour melted butter over the asparagus, or serve with Hollandaise sauce.
Baked Asparagus Loaf
2 cups cooked asparagus tips
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups thick White Sauce
Line a buttered loaf pan with 1 cup of the asparagus tips. Rub through a fine sieve the rest of the tips and add to the white sauce. Beat the eggs well and mix with the sauce. Pour mixture into the loaf pan and set in a pan of hot water. Bake in a moderate oven (350 F) for 45 minutes. Serve hot.
To make white sauce
2 tblsp. butter
2 tblsp. flour
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
Melt butter and add flour and blend. Gradually add the milk and stir constantly until mixture thickens. Add seasonings.
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I just love asparagus. We eat them all spring until the short season is over. And, if you happen to have a friend with an asparagus patch all the better! I like them without the sauce. Why cover the taste.
We used to have baked asparagus with a sprinkle of salt and vinegar on it and always with a side dish of dandelion salad. That was a given in springtime on the farm. I still hae the dandelion salad, but it’s a dish that no one wants to even try – their problem, it just means that I have all that much more to enjoy.
That’s one of my very favorite vegetables. Yummm. Thank you for the history, too. Thomas Jefferson sure was a gourmet.