Asparagus Soup
Cut the tops from about thirty heads of asparagus, about half an inch long, and boil the rest; cut off all the tender portions and rub through a sieve, adding a little salt; warm three pints soup stock, add a small lump of butter and a tea-spoon of flour previously cooked by heating the butter and slowly stirring in the flour; then add the asparagus pulp. Boil slowly a quarter of an hour, stirring in two or three table-spoons cream; color the soup with a tea-spoon of prepared spinach, made by pounding the spinach well, adding a few drops of water, squeezing the juice through a cloth and putting it over a good fire. As soon as it looks curdy, take it off, and strain the liquor through a sieve. What remains on the sieve is to be used for coloring the soup. Just before serving soup, add the asparagus tops which have been separately boiled.