[Sca-cooks] Asparagus in sauce (long)

[Vincent Cuenca]

Here's that recipe:

"Libre de Sent Sovi (Receptari de Cuina). 1979 Editorial Barcino. Edited by
Rudolf Grewe.

Capitol CXVII. Qui parla con sa deuen aperellar esparechs ab salsa.

Si vols aperellar esparech ab salsa, se ffa axi: Prin lo tendre dels
esparechs, e cou-los be'.  E quant seran cuyts, prem-los de aquella aygua, e
capole-us be': e puys soffrig-los en una casola ab molt holi.  E talle-y hom
ceba manut tallada e escaldade.  E quant son prop de soffits ab les sebes
una pessa, a hom arop o mel, met-n'i hom un poc.

E ffa hom salsa axi': Prin om pa torrat mullat en vinagre e de bones salces,
e trempa hom ab un poc d'ayguo calda ho brou.  E quant los esparechs son
soffrits, a hom la salsa, axi com demunt es dit; e va ab ells, e axi cou-se.
  E no.n deu hom pertir la ma entro' que an perdut lo bolir e son levats del
ffoch.

Quick and dirty translation (wanna help me out, Master Thomas?)

Chapter CXVII.  Which speaks of how to prepare asparagus in sauce.

If you wish to prepare asparagus in sauce, it is done this way; take the
(tenderest?) of the asparagus, and cook them well.  And when they are
cooked, take them out of the water, and chop them well; and you can sweat
them in a pan with much (holi?  oil?).  And add finely chopped and blanched
onion.  And when they are properly sweated (ab les sebes una pessa?
Unsure.), add a little sugar syrup or honey.

And make the sauce this way: take toasted bread moistened with vinegar and
some fine spices, and temper them with a little hot water or broth.  And
when the asparagus are sweated, add the sauce to them, as is said above; and
it goes with them, and so cook it.  And you should not remove yur hand from
it until it has lost its boil and you remove it from the fire.

Redaction:

1 bunch asparagus
2-3 scallions, finely chopped (I had no small onions)
1 handfull (perhaps 1/2 cup) breadcrumbs
1/2 t. honey (approx)
1 pinch ground cinnamon
2 pinches ground ginger
4-5 peppercorns
2 cloves
1/8 t grains of paradise
red wine vinegar

I peeled and trimmed the asparagus, then set a pot to boil.  I ground the
peppercorns, grains of paradise, and clves to a fine powder, then added the
other spices.  I toasted the breadcrumbs in a small pan, then added them to
the mortar.  While the asparagus was cooking, I sweated the scallions in a
little oil.  As soon as the asparagus were done, I lifted them out into the
pan with the scallions, then mashed up the breadcrumbs with a little
vinegar, the honey, and some of the cooking liquid from the asparagus to
form a thin paste.  I scraped it out over the onions and asparagus, then
added more cooking liquid to thin the sauce a little more.

Since I was working so fast, I didn't take the time to chop the asparagus.
The sauce was a nice light brown color, and was absolutely amazing with the
asparagus.  Much easier than hollandaise!

I served it with a recipe from "Renaissance Cooking"; that one with the
pomegranate on the cover and the nice pictures inside.  The recipe I did is
supposedly from Scappi; pot-roasted capon stuffed with breadcrumbs, egg,
cheese, nuts and herbs, then braised in water, wine, verjuice, and dried
fruit.  I used figs and raisins, and oh by der yumpin Yiminy dot dere vas
goot.  Anybody know what the actual recipe is?

Vicente
(If I can track down the original, I'm putting it on a feast menu.)
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It's great to be known, but it's even better to be known as strange.
-Takeshi Kaga

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