Shake them over the fire for a minute or so, and then serve on a hot dish.
Soak it in salt and water to draw out any insects, and trim off the outside leaves.
Put it, with the flower downwards, into a saucepan of boiling water with salt in it, and cook from twenty to thirty minutes, according to its age.
If liked, it may be served with white or French sauce poured over it (_see_ Sauces.)
Put them into plenty of boiling water, with a little sugar and a sprig or two of mint.
Boil gently with the lid off the saucepan for twenty minutes or more, according to their size and age.
Then put them into a saucepan with a little piece of butter, a teaspoonful of castor sugar, pepper and salt, and shake them over the fire for a minute or two.
Remove the strings and cut the beans into slices.
Put them into plenty of boiling water, with salt in the proportion of one tablespoonful to every two quarts of water, a little sugar, or, if the water is hard, a small piece of soda about the size of a pea.
Boil quickly for fifteen minutes or longer, according to their age.
Then put them into a saucepan with a small piece of butter, pepper and salt, and shake them over the fire for a minute or two.
Pull off the stalks and wash the spinach well in several waters to remove all grit.
Put it into a saucepan without any water but that which adheres to the leaves, and sprinkle a little salt over it.
Cook with the lid off the saucepan until quite tender, stirring it occasionally.
Drain it in a colander, and wring it dry in a cloth.
Then chop it, or rub it through a wire sieve. The latter method is preferable.
To dress it, mix it in a saucepan over the fire with a little butter, pepper, and salt; a little cream may be used also, care being taken not to make the spinach too moist to serve.
Press it into shape, as a mound or pyramid, in a vegetable dish, and garnish with fried _croutons_ of bread.
Cut the asparagus all the same length, and scrape the white part lightly.
Tie it together and put it in boiling water, to which salt has been added, in the proportion of one tablespoonful to two quarts of water.
Boil gently with the lid off the saucepan for half an hour, until the green part is tender--very young asparagus will not take so long.