Asparagus and Ham

This is the last Sunday dish we had in La Balme in May 1940, the day before we all left to go back to Paris because of Mussolini’s threats. Use fat white asparagus if you can; white asparagus must be almost overcooked, or moelleuse, as the term goes. If you have green asparagus, use the California jumbos and bring them to the edge of losing their al dente texture. This was a luxury dish in bourgeois households, eaten as a first course.