Recipe - Cream Of Asparagus Soup With Morels

8 Thin green asparagus spears
6 Fat green asparagus spears
1 Shallot mediumsized
3 One half ounce Fresh morels or One half oz
Dried ones
3 One half ounce Unsalted butter
7/8 cup Double cream
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne

Fredy Girardet: 'I like to serve a light little soup at the start of a
meal. In a menu of four or fives courses, this is one of the best soups for
sharpening the appetite'.

Clean the asparagus spears and cook the thin ones for about 5 minutes and
the fat ones for about 10 minutes in boiling salted water. Drain both kinds
and reserve the water in which they cooked. Cut off the tips of the eight
thin spears and set them aside for the garnish.

Peel and chop the shallot finely. Wash the morels CAREFULLY and cut them
into quarters (if you are using dried ones, soak them in water for at least
half an hour before this step).

Heat half the butter in a saucepan. Add twothirds of the chopped shallot
and colour in the butter. Add the six fat asparagus spears and 200 ml (a
scant One half pint) of their reserved cooking water. Bring to the boil.

Add the cream and reduce it by boiling fast for 2 minutes. Liquidise the
soup with 30g (1 oz) of the remaining butter. Wash out the saucepan.

Strain the liquidized soup through a fine sieve. Season with salt, pepper
and cayenne, and return it to the cleaned saucepan. Set it aside.

Finishing Reheat the thin asparagus tips by warming them through in a
little of their cooking liquid. Reheat the asparagus soup.

Put the morels, the rest of the chopped shallot and the remaining 20 g (3/4
oz) butter into a small saucepan. Season with a little salt and cook
gently. The morels will excludea little liquid. Leave them to cook until
they have given off all their liquid, at which stage they will be done.
Take them off the heat.

Serving Put a ladleful of the soup into each soupplate. Garnish the centre
of each one with a share of morels and two asparagus tips.

(From: Fredy Girardet, Cuisine spontanee, MPapermac, ISBN 0333409574)
Posted by Rene Gagnaux

Recipe By : Fredy Girardet, Cuisine spontanee, MPapermac

File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/mmdja006.zip