Puree Of Asparagus

Pick out the tender parts of the asparagus, wash thoroughly, and heat in boiling water with some salt to make them green. When beginning to get tender, drain and place them in cold water. When cold, drain on a clean towel, and when dry, put in a saucepan previously prepared with a small piece of fresh butter, some sprigs of green parsley, and a few green onions; fry them as quickly as possible, to preserve the green color, adding a lump of sugar, a little salt, and a small quantity of fine flour, and moisten with a good broth. Cool quickly and rub through a tammy sieve, adding a little spinach green to color it.

Red Bean Puree Soup

Put on the fire in a saucepan enough red beans previously soaked in cold water for four hours and moisten with some white broth; cook till soft and rub through a sieve, adding a couple of ounces of salt pork blanched, some onion, carrot and a garnished bouquet, together with a little pepper. Cook thoroughly for one hour, and strain, adding half a glass of claret, and serve with small croutons of fried bread.

Puree Of Cardoons

Remove the prickles from some white and sound cardoons, blanch them in water for fifteen or twenty minutes, rub off the skins, cut them in three-inch lengths, and put them on a wire drainer in an oval stewpan; lay on the top some thin slices of bacon (fat) and cover them with a white dressing made of flour, stock and clarified fat; add one onion, stuck with two cloves, some slices of peeled and seeded lemon, and a little salt and pepper. Allow these to simmer until the cardoons are done, then pour in an equal quantity of bechamel sauce, reduce and press the mixture through a tammy-cloth. Before serving add butter and raw cream to the puree.

Carrot Puree

Chop very finely all the red portions of some carrots; fry them in butter, and finish cooking by adding a little broth; when done, reduce the broth to a glaze, stir in six tablespoonfuls of bechamel sauce, and strain through a sieve. Mix with this puree five or six pints of white broth, then pass it all through a sieve into a saucepan, place it on the fire, and stir until it begins to bubble; then move it on one side of the stove and leave for an hour to settle. Skim off all the fat from the broth, and thicken it with a mixture of four egg yolks, diluted with cream and poured through a sieve; and then place the soup over the fire again, stirring in a few tablespoonfuls of blanched noodles and a lump of butter. When the soup is hot, pour it into a soup tureen, and serve.

Celery Puree

Prepare half a dozen heads of celery as for celery with gravy, wipe and drain, cutting them into small pieces. Put these into a glazing-pan with an equal quantity of bechamel sauce, reduce well and then pass all through a sieve by rubbing with the back of a spoon. Add one ounce of butter and one teacupful of rich cream to the mixture, and salt and pepper to suit the taste.

Puree Of Herbs With Vegetables

Wash a savoy cabbage, slice it and place it in a stewpan with two sliced leeks and a little butter; let them fry for an hour, put with them four sliced heads of cabbage lettuce, one small sized beet root, one handful each of borage leaves, and sorrel, and one pinch of chervil. When the herbs are done, sprinkle over one tablespoonful of flour, pour in two quarts of broth, and stir over the fire till it begins to boil. Beat six eggs and one-fourth pint of cream and stir it in the broth. Cut a fourth pound of butter into little bits and add it to the soup.

Vegetable Puree

Wash well a couple of bunches of young carrots, scrape them thoroughly and rasp off the red parts into a saucepan, add a small quantity of butter and a slice of lean ham, also a few leeks and sticks of celery tied up in a bundle, and stir well over the fire until the vegetables are slightly colored, then pour in the required quantity of fowl or other consomme, and boil slowly for two hours. Take out the roots and ham and strain the soup into another saucepan, rub the carrots through a sieve and add them to the soup, and bring it once more to the boil. Remove the saucepan to the side of the fire, skim the soup carefully, add a small pinch of sugar, pour it into a tureen and serve.