Artichokes (Artichauts)

2028—ARTICHAUTS A LA BARIGOULE

Take some very fresh and tender artichokes. After having trimmed their tops, take off the outermost leaves; parboil the artichokes; remove their hearts, and completely clear them of their chokes. Season them inside, and fill them with a preparation of Duxelles (No. 224), combined with a quarter of its weight of fresh, grated, fat bacon, and as much butter.

Wrap the stuffed artichokes in thin slices of bacon; string them, and set them in a saucepan prepared for braising. Braise them gently with white wine, and cook them well.

When about to serve them, remove the string and the bacon, and dish them.

Strain the braising-liquor, and clear it of grease; thicken it with the necessary quantity of good half-glaze sauce; reduce it sufficiently to produce only a very little sauce, and pour the latter over the artichokes.

2029—CŒURS D’ARTICHAUTS A LA CLAMART

Select some very tender small artichokes, and trim them.

Set them in a buttered _cocotte_, with a small quartered carrot and three tablespoonfuls of freshly-shelled peas to each artichoke, add a large faggot and a little water, and salt moderately. Cover and cook gently in a steamer. When about to serve, withdraw the faggot, and slightly thicken the liquor with a little _manied_ butter.

Serve the preparation in the _cocotte_.

2030—ARTICHOKES WITH DIVERS SAUCES

Cut the artichokes evenly to within two-thirds of their height; trim them all round; string them, and plunge them into slightly-salted boiling water. Cook them rather quickly; drain them well, just before serving them, and remove the string.

Dish on a napkin, and send a butter, a Hollandaise, or a mousseline sauce, &c., at the same time.

When artichokes, cooked in this way, have to be served cold, remove their chokes, dish them on a napkin, and send a Vinaigrette sauce separately.

2031—ARTICHAUTS A LA PROVENÇALE

Select some very small Provençal artichokes; trim them, and put them in an earthenware stewpan containing some very hot oil. Season with salt and pepper; cover the stewpan, and leave to cook for about ten minutes.

Then add, for each twelve artichokes, one pint of very tender, freshly-shelled peas, and a coarse _julienne_ of one lettuce.

Cover once more, and cook gently without moistening. The moisture of the peas and the lettuce suffices for the moistening, provided the stewpan be well covered and the fire be not too fierce—both of which conditions are necessary to prevent evaporation on too large a scale.

2032—QUARTIERS D’ARTICHAUTS A L’ITALIENNE

Turn, trim, and quarter some fair-sized artichokes. Trim the quarters, removing the chokes therefrom; rub them with a piece of lemon to prevent their blackening; plunge them one by one into fresh water; parboil and drain them. This done, set them in a sautépan on a litter of aromatics, as for braising; make them sweat in the oven for seven or eight minutes; moisten with white wine; reduce the latter; and moisten again, to within half their height, with brown stock. Cook gently in the oven until the quarters are very tender.

When about to serve, set them in a vegetable dish; strain the cooking-liquor; clear it of grease, and reduce it; add an Italian sauce to it, and pour this sauce over the quartered artichokes.

2033—FONDS D’ARTICHAUTS FARCIS

Select some medium-sized artichokes; clear them of their leaves and their chokes; trim their bottoms, rub them with lemon to prevent their blackening, and cook them in a Blanc (No. 167), keeping them somewhat firm.

After having drained them, stuff them with a little Duxelles, prepared according to No. 224. Arrange them on a buttered dish; sprinkle the Duxelles with fine raspings and a little melted butter, and set in a hot oven for a _gratin_ to form.

Serve a Madeira sauce at the same time.

2034—FONDS D’ARTICHAUTS A LA FLORENTINE

Prepare the artichoke-bottoms as above.

Meanwhile fry a large, chopped onion in butter; add thereto two-thirds lb. of parboiled and chopped spinach per twelve artichokes. Stir over an open fire, that all moisture may evaporate, and add salt and pepper, a piece of crushed garlic the size of a pea, a tablespoonful of anchovy purée, and two tablespoonfuls of Velouté. Cook gently for ten minutes.

Stuff the artichoke-bottoms with this preparation; arrange them on a buttered dish; coat with Mornay sauce; sprinkle with Gruyère, cut _brunoise-fashion_, and set to glaze in a fierce oven.

Upon withdrawing the dish from the oven, sprinkle the artichoke-bottoms with a few drops of melted anchovy butter.

2035—FONDS D’ARTICHAUTS AUX POINTES D’ASPERGES

Prepare the artichoke-bottoms as above; stew them in butter, and garnish them with asparagus-heads, cohered with cream, and heaped in pyramid-form.

Lay them on a buttered dish; coat with Mornay sauce, and set to glaze quickly.

2036—FONDS D’ARTICHAUTS SAUTÉS

Remove the leaves and the chokes from the artichokes, trim the bottoms, and slice them up raw. Season them with salt and pepper; toss them in butter; set them in a vegetable-dish, and sprinkle them with herbs.

2037—PURÉE OU CRÈME D’ARTICHAUTS

Take some very tender artichokes; trim and turn the bottoms, and half-cook them, keeping them very white. Complete their cooking in butter, and rub them through a fine sieve, together with the butter used in cooking.

Put the purée thus obtained in a saucepan, and add to it the half of its bulk of mashed, very smooth, and creamy potatoes.

Finish the purée with a little fresh and a little hazel-nut butter, the latter being used to increase the flavour of the artichokes.

2038—ASPARAGUS (Asperges)

The best-known varieties of asparagus in England are:—

1. The Lauris asparagus, which is par excellence the early-season kind.

2. The green, Parisian asparagus, which is very small, and of which the most diminutive sticks, also called sprew, serve for garnishes.

3. The Argenteuil asparagus—very much in demand while it is in season.

4. English asparagus, which is somewhat delicate in quality, but inclined to be small. During the season there are, besides, several other kinds of asparagus imported from Spain or France, which, though not equal to the four kinds above mentioned, may nevertheless be used for soups or garnishes instead of asparagus-heads or sprew.

Asparagus should be had as fresh as possible; it should be cleaned with care, quickly washed, tied into faggots, and cooked in plenty of salted water. Certain kinds, the flavour of which is somewhat bitter, should be transferred to other water as soon as cooked, with the view of reducing their bitterness.

Asparagus is dished on special silver drainers, or on napkins.

2039—ASPERGES A LA FLAMANDE

According to Flemish custom, asparagus is served with one hot, hard-boiled half-egg, and one oz. of melted butter per person. The egg-yolk is crushed, seasoned, and finished with the butter by the consumers themselves. This accompaniment may also be prepared beforehand and served in a sauceboat.

2040—ASPERGES AU GRATIN

Dish the asparagus in rows, and coat the heads of each row with a little Mornay sauce. When all are dished, two-thirds cover the bunch with a band of buttered paper, and coat the uncovered portion with Mornay sauce. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan; glaze quickly at the salamander, remove the paper, and serve at once.

2041—ASPERGES A LA MILANAISE

Having thoroughly drained the asparagus, set it on a long, buttered dish sprinkled with grated Parmesan; arrange it in successive rows, each of which sprinkle in the region of the heads with grated Parmesan. When about to serve, cover the cheese-powdered parts copiously with nut-brown butter, and set to glaze slightly at the salamander.

2042—ASPERGES A LA POLONAISE

Thoroughly drain the asparagus; set it on a long dish, in rows, and besprinkle the heads with hard-boiled egg-yolk and chopped parsley, mixed. When about to serve, cover the heads with nut-brown butter, combined with one oz. of very fresh and fine bread-crumbs per four oz. of butter.

2043—ASPARAGUS WITH VARIOUS SAUCES

Butter sauce, Hollandaise, _Mousseline_, and Maltese sauces are the most usual adjuncts to asparagus. Béarnaise sauce without herbs is also served occasionally, likewise melted butter.

When eaten cold, it may be served with oil and vinegar or a mayonnaise—more particularly a Chantilly mayonnaise, _i.e._, one to which beaten cream has been added.

2044—SPREW WITH BUTTER (Pointes d’Asperges)

Sprew or green asparagus is chiefly used for garnishing or as a garnishing ingredient, but it may also be served as a vegetable with perfect propriety. Cut the heads into two-inch lengths, and put them together in faggots.

Cut what remains of them into bits the size of peas. After having washed the latter, plunge them into boiling salted water, and cook them quickly, that they may keep green.

This done, thoroughly drain them; let their moisture evaporate by tossing them over the fire; cohere them with butter, away from the fire, and dish them in a timbale with the faggots on top.

They are usually served in small patty crusts, or in small tartlet crusts, with a few sprew tops on each small patty or tartlet.

2045—POINTES D’ASPERGES A LA CRÈME

Prepare them, and cook them in salted water as above.

Their cohesion with cream is in pursuance of the procedure common to other vegetables similarly prepared, and they are served like those of No. 2044.