ASPARAGUS OMELET.--Take two bunches of the largest and finest asparagus. Put it into a pot of boiling water, with a tea-spoonful of salt, and boil it about twenty-five minutes, or till perfectly tender. Then drain it, and chop small all the green part. Beat four eggs very light, and add to them a wine-glass of cream. Mix the chopped asparagus thoroughly with the egg and cream, adding a salt-spoon of salt, and a very little cayenne. Melt a large slice of fresh butter in a frying-pan over the fire; and when it has boiled, and the bubbling has ceased, put in the mixture, and fry it till light and firm. Then slip it from the frying-pan to a hot dish, and fold it over.
For a soft omelet, put the mixture into a skillet, with a piece of fresh butter. Let it stew slowly for ten minutes. Lay a thin slice of buttered toast in the bottom of a hot dish, and cut the toast into small squares, but let them remain close together. With a spoon heap the soft omelet upon the toast, and serve it up.
Any omelet mixture may be kept soft by stewing instead of frying it, and it will be found far more wholesome.
STEWED PEAS.--Take young, tender green peas, and put into a stew-pan, with sufficient fresh butter to keep them from burning, but no water. Season them with a little black pepper, and a very little salt. Set them over a moderate fire, and stir them about till the butter is well mixed through them. Let them simmer till quite soft and slightly broken; taking off the lid occasionally, and giving them a stir up from the bottom. If you find them becoming too dry, add some more butter. When done, drain off what superfluous butter may be about the peas, and send them to table hot. They will be found excellent.
To the taste of many persons, they will be improved by a lump or two of loaf-sugar put in with the butter; and also by a few sprigs of mint, to be removed before the peas go to table.
Lima beans may be stewed in butter, as above: also, asparagus tops, cut off from the white stalk.
FRENCH PEAS.--The peas should be young, freshly gathered, and shelled immediately before they are cooked. Boil them in water slightly salted, till they are perfectly tender. Then put them into a sieve, and drain them as dry as possible. To each quart of peas allow an ounce and a half of the best fresh butter; a large tea-spoonful of flour; and six table-spoonfuls or a tea-cup of rich cream; with a small tea-spoonful of powdered sugar. Put the butter into a stew-pan; place it over the fire; and when it comes to a boil, stir in the flour, making it quite smooth, and free from lumps. Having mixed the sugar with the cream, add it, gradually, to the butter and flour; and when it boils hard stir in the peas, and let them stew till they are all hot through. While stewing, stir them occasionally to prevent their burning. If the pan is small it is better to shake it over the fire.