A Girl and Her Greens. April Bloomfield

CLARIFIED BUTTER

       When I plan to make béarnaise, hollandaise, and many other emulsified French sauces, my first step is to clarify butter, or melt the butter and cook it slowly so the milk solids rise to the surface to be skimmed off, leaving behind only the glass-clear yellow fat. Using this instead of regular melted butter is essential for achieving a sauce of the proper texture and also one that won’t readily split on you. Even if you’re not planning to make my ramp béarnaise (here), you should still give clarifying butter a go. For one, it’s good fun to have an excuse to melt a big old hunk of butter, taking plenty of sniffs as it bubbles away. Clarified butter also makes a great cooking fat, since it won’t burn at high temperatures like regular butter will.

       makes about 675g

      675g unsalted butter, cut into about 4cm pieces

      Put the butter in a medium saucepan and set it over medium-low heat. Let it melt completely, without stirring, until it begins to bubble, then have a gentle stir. Let the butter bubble steadily, without stirring, lowering the heat if you spot any browning around the edges. Some of the whitish milk solids will rise to the surface, some will cook off, and some will settle at the bottom of the pan. Cook until the yellow liquid is nearly transparent (you’ll want to push the white solids on the surface aside to have a good look at the liquid), 10 to 12 minutes.

      Use a spoon to gently skim the white stuff from the surface. You should be left with transparent golden fat with some opaque milk solids below. Slowly pour the yellow liquid butter into a container, leaving any remaining milk solids behind in the pan.

      The clarified butter keeps in an airtight container for up to a month in the refrigerator.

      SPRING EGG DROP SOUP

       I hate muddling through a long winter only to suffer those odd early spring months when the weather is finally warming up, but the markets don’t seem to have noticed. Spring produce takes a while to shake off the cold. So when it does, an excitable cook like me tends to go overboard. I pop to the market to grab a bunch of asparagus and return weighed down by bags and bags of spring goodies. I want to use them all without cooking a dozen different dishes. So I make a nice soup, one flaunting a last-minute drizzle of eggs beaten with a little Parmesan so they set in silky, fatty strands. A variety of veg is fantastic here, but feel free to use just asparagus or just peas, if that’s what you’ve got or what you like.

       serves 4

      55ml extra-virgin olive oil

      225g young carrots, topped, tailed, peeled and cut into 1-cm irregularly shaped pieces

      230g chopped (1-cm pieces) bulbous spring onions

      3 slim or 1 bulbous spring garlic head(s), roots and tops trimmed, tough layers removed, thinly sliced

      2 teaspoons plus a pinch Maldon or another flaky sea salt

      900ml Simple Chicken Stock (here)

      225g asparagus, woody bottoms snapped off, cut on the diagonal into 1-cm pieces

      110g sugar snap peas, trimmed, strings removed, and cut on the diagonal into 0.5-cm pieces

      100g shelled fresh peas (from about 300g of pods)

      2 large eggs

      2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese

      A five-finger pinch of mint leaves, roughly chopped at the last minute

      A five-finger pinch of basil leaves, roughly chopped at the last minute

      ½ lemon

      Heat the oil in a wide heavy pot over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the carrots first, then the onion, garlic, and 2 teaspoons of the salt. Cover and cook, stirring only after 5 minutes have passed and occasionally thereafter, until the onions are soft and creamy but not coloured, about 25 minutes.

      Uncover, add all but 1 tablespoon of the chicken stock, increase the heat to high, and bring the stock to a vigorous simmer. Add the asparagus and both kinds of peas and cook just until they’re tender with a slight crunch, about 3 minutes.

      Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the Parmesan, a pinch of salt, and the remaining tablespoon of stock.

      When the green vegetables are ready, reduce the heat to low, stir in the herbs, then drizzle the egg mixture here and there over the soup. Have one very gentle stir, wait a minute or two until the egg sets, then take the pot off the heat. Season to taste with salt (be judicious, or else you will obscure the flavour of the vegetables), then squeeze in just enough lemon to add brightness, not acidity. Let the soup cool slightly before you dig in.