Recipes

OK. I'm starting to think about Christmas gifts. There's one person who has just started to get into cooking, and I want to get them a nice basic cookbook. I'm thinking either Julia Child's The Way To Cook--my own Bible--or The Joy of Cooking, which a number of other people have recommended.

Which do people prefer? Or, do you have another standard cookbook that you prefer.

I made this for friends in Atlanta for Thanksgiving dinner. I have another friend who yells at me because I never write this recipe down--here it is (an alternative is at the bottom).

1. Place the olive oil and butter in a large sauce pan or stock pan. When the butter has melted, add the shallots and garlic. Saute until soft.

2. While the garlic and shallots are sauteing, chop the bottoms off the asparagus stalks and discard. cut the tips off and move them to the side (to be added later). Chop the asparagus into approx. 1-inch sticks.

3. Once the garlic and shallots are soft, add the asparagus and stock. Crumble half the marjoram into the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook until the asparagus is soft.

4. Run the soup through a food mill (or blender). (A stick blender does work, but some of the stringy stuff that sticks to it may need to be removed).

5. Return the puree to the pot. Add the cream, asparagus tips, salt and pepper, and crumble the remaining marjoram into the soup. Bring to a simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes. Serve.

An alternative approach. Sometimes--well, a lot of the time--I like to use bacon. An alternative for this recipe is to replace the olive oil and butter with bacon grease. Place about 4 strips of bacon in the pot and fry to render the fat. Once you've got the grease out of it, remove the bacon to a paper towel covered plate. Saute the shallots and garlic in the bacon grease, and follow the rest of the recipe. Crumble the bacon into the soup when you add the cream, asparagus tips, etc.

I've found that this soup goes quite nicely with a Rioja Blanco, if you can find one.

Bon Apetit!

Approx 10.

60

2 T olive oil

2 T butter

3 shallots, minced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 lbs asparagus

6 c chicken stock (or vegetable stock if you prefer vegetarian)

1 t dried marjoram

2 c heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste