Serving
(click to enlarge)

 Asparagus with Lettuce Sauce
Italy
Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:		 2
**
20 min
No
An unusual combination - Americans aren't accustomed to lettuce being cooked, but this works quite well and is a change from the usual asparagus sauces. Italians would likely use white asparagus but see Note-1. in asparagus here.





1
6
3
1-1/2
2
1/4
tt
tt
3/4 		#
oz
oz
oz
t
c


c 		Asparagus (1)
Lettuce green leaf
Onion
Ham, lean
Butter
Stock
Salt
Pepper
Cream
  1. Cook ASPARAGUS as whole spears. If thin enough use the asparagus steamer method. If very thick or white peel and cook in a sauté pan. Keep it warm and warm some dishes for it. See my page Working with Asparagus for cooking details.
  2. Tear the LETTUCE LEAVES into about 1-1/2 inch squares discarding the stiff spines.
  3. Chop ONION very small.
  4. Dice HAM fairly small.
  5. Heat Butter in a saucepan and fry Onion over moderate heat until translucent.
  6. Stir in Lettuce and Ham, then Stock. Season to taste with Salt and Pepper and simmer for about 4 minutes stirring occasionally until lettuce is well wilted.
  7. Stir in Cream and bring up warm stirring constantly - but not to a simmer. Turn off heat.
  8. Arrange Asparagus spears on a warm dish and ladle sauce over. Serve warm.
NOTES:
  1. Asparagus:   For some reason I cannot fathom, Europeans prefer labor intensive white asparagus which is nearly flavorless and always needs to be peeled. See my page Asparagus for details.
  2. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch
ygd_asparalet1 ! gic224
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