Peel white asparagus and remove the more fibrous butt ends. In a ten inch frying pan, add about one inch of boiling water or enough to cover the peelings and ends as well as the 8-10 spears of white asparagus. Bring back to boil and simmer covered until the spears are tender. This will take at least twice as long as for green asparagus, perhaps more than fifteen minutes. Remove white asparagus spears, pat dry, and keep warm in dish in oven.
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Now reduce liquid in pan. You may leave peelings and ends in water until the liquid becomes insufficient to protect them from burning. Strain liquid. If quantity more that 1/2 cup, return to pan and reduce to between 1/4 and 1/2 cup. The more concentrated the liquid, the more intense the flavor of your sauce will be. Now add an equal quantity of cream to the liquid. We use table or coffee cream with about 1/2 tsp. of cornstarch (mix cornstarch first with cream before adding to liquid). Do NOT let the mixture boil. Heat until slightly thickened.
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