Vegetable Soup with Asparagus Flan
Soup
1 carrot, peeled, chopped
1 leek, peeled, chopped
1 celery stalk, peeled, chopped
1 onion, peeled, chopped
1 turnip, peeled, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp. olive oil
8 cups water
1 fresh thyme sprig
1 bay leaf
1 whole clove
1 1/2 lbs. asparagus, peeled, trimmed
Flan
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. whipping cream
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. whole milk no substitutes
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1/4 tsp. salt
Pepper to taste
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
Salt and Pepper
For Soup:
Combine the first 6 ingredients in a heavy large saucepan. Drizzle oil
over. Cover
and cookover low heat until vegetables are tender but not brown, stirring occasionally,
about 15 minutes.
Add 8 cups of water, thyme, bay leaf and clove. Simmer until liquid
is
reduced to 4 cups, about
1 1/2 hours. Strain vegetable broth, pressing on vegetables
to get as much
liquid as possible.
Discard vegetables. (Can be made up to 3 days in advance.)
Cook asparagus in a large skillet of boiling, salted water until tender about 7
minutes.
Drain and rinse with cold water . Cut off tips and halve
the tips lengthwise and reserve.
Puree asparagus stalks in a blender until
smooth.
For Flan:
Pre heat oven to 300. Lightly butter 4, 4oz. ramekins or custard cups.
Scald
cream and milk in a heavy small saucepan. Cool to room temp.
Whisk egg, egg
white, and 1/3 cup of asparagus
puree in a medium bowl to
combine. Stir in cream
mixture, salt and pepper. Pour flan mixture
into ramekins.
Set ramekins in a large baking dish. Pour enough water into the dish to
come
halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until the custards are set
about 35
minutes. Remove from the oven.
Leave the ramekins in the
water.
Meanwhile, bring the vegetable broth to boil in a heavy, large saucepan.
Add potato.
Cover and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes.
Transfer potato to a food processor
with a slotted spoon.
Puree until just smooth. Return potato to the broth.
Mix in
remaining asparagus puree.
Rewarm soup over medium low hear, stirring
often. Add lemon juice and
season with salt
and pepper.
Turn the flans out into large soup bowls. Ladle soup around flans and
garnish with reserved asparagus tips.
