Recipe for "asparag-soup-1"

NAME

     ASPARAG-SOUP-1 - A light and simple asparagus soup
     Every summer, it seems, the grocery stores are glutted  with
     cheap asparagus. Most of the classical recipes for asparagus
     soup produce a hearty winter-style soup.   Here's  a  simple
     recipe  for  a  delicious,  light, thin soup that is more in
     keeping with the time of the year that the glut occurs.  You
     can  leave out the chicken broth to make it a meatless soup,
     but it does require egg yolks.

INGREDIENTS (Serves 4-6)

     30 ml     butter
     1         onion, chopped
     700 g     fresh asparagus
     30 ml     flour
     1.5 l     boiling water
     10 ml     salt
     60 ml     rich chicken broth (optional)
     2         egg yolks
     120 ml    milk

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Melt the butter in a pan big enough  to  cook  the
               soup.  Saut  e the onions for a few minutes, until
               transparent but not brown.
          (2)  Meanwhile, slice the asparagus into  thin  slices.
               Now  add the sliced asparagus pieces to the onions
               and continue to saute (over medium to  medium-high
               heat)  for  15 minutes, until most of the moisture
               has steamed out of the asparagus and  the  mixture
               has just barely started to brown.
          (3)  Add the flour to the onion/asparagus  mixture  and
               stir well to coat each piece with some flour. Cook
               for 2 or 3 more minutes over medium-high heat.
          (4)  Dump the boiling water into the asparagus mixture.
               Add  the  (optional)  chicken  broth and the salt.
               Simmer for 1 hour.
          (5)  Strain out the cooked asparagus, leaving behind  a
               thin yellow-green soup.
          (6)  Thicken the soup with the 2 egg  yolks.   Add  the
               milk  and  reheat the soup to serving temperature.
               Add salt and fresh-ground white pepper  to  taste.
               Serve immediately.

NOTES

     The slicing disk on a food processor does an  excellent  job
     of slicing the asparagus for this recipe. You can use a food
     mill, a china cap, or an ordinary sieve to strain the cooked
     asparagus out of the broth.
     Don't try to make this soup as a low-salt  soup  by  leaving
     out  the salt.  It will taste like dishwater if you cook the
     asparagus for an hour without salt. Don't try  to  skimp  on
     time   by   leaving   the  cooked  asparagus  in  the  broth
     unstrained. It will ruin the texture.

RATING

     Difficulty: easy to moderate (thickening soup with egg yolks
     is not a beginner's skill).  Time: 10 minutes preparation, 1
     hour simmering, 5 minutes finishing.  Precision: Approximate
     measurement OK.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Brian Reid
     DEC Western Research Laboratory, Palo Alto, California, USA
     reid@decwrl.dec.com {decvax,sun,ucbvax,cbosgd,pyramid}!decwrl!reid