Velouté Comtesse

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •3-quart heavy saucepan
• •Vegetable peeler and small paring knife
• •Immersion blender
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Heatproof whisk and bowl
• •Warmed soup tureen or six soup bowls

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the asparagus

   Peel every spear from just below its tip to the base; white asparagus keeps a fibrous outer coat that no amount of elegant sieving can excuse. Trim away the woody ends. Cut off 12 neat tips, each about 1½ inches long, and use the point of a paring knife to lift away any tough papery scales without disturbing the buds. Cut the remaining stalks crosswise into 1-inch pieces.

   If a tip breaks, send it into the soup and reserve another. The garnish needs 12 intact heads; the purée is merciful about appearances.
2. 2

   Parboil the asparagus

   Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and season it with part of the measured salt. Cook the reserved tips gently for 3 to 4 minutes, until a knife enters with slight resistance, then lift them onto a clean towel. Add the chopped stalks and parboil them for 4 minutes. Drain thoroughly. This first cooking removes their raw edge; the velouté will complete the cooking and carry their flavour.

3. 3

   Build the velouté

   Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a heavy 3-quart saucepan over low heat. Stir in the flour and cook this roux blanc, or white roux, for 2 minutes, stirring steadily and allowing no colour. Whisk in the chicken stock a little at a time, making each addition smooth before adding the next. Bring to a bare simmer and cook for 12 minutes, stirring often, until the ordinary velouté coats the back of a spoon without tasting of raw flour. If it lumps, take it off the heat and whisk firmly, then pass it through the sieve. Ça se rattrape.

4. 4

   Cook the asparagus gently

   Add the parboiled stalk pieces to the ordinary velouté. Hold the pan at the gentlest simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring along the bottom every few minutes, until the asparagus crushes readily against the side of the pan. Do not boil hard. Fierce heat reduces the base before the fibres soften, leaving a thick soup with a raw, woody taste.

5. 5

   Blend and sieve

   Blend the soup in the pan with an immersion blender until no pieces remain. Set a fine-mesh sieve over a clean saucepan and press the soup through with a ladle or flexible spatula, working patiently, then discard the dry fibres left behind. The blender replaces the brigade's first pass, but the sieve replaces the tammy and must stay. It is what turns cooked asparagus into a true velouté rather than a fibrous purée.

6. 6

   Add the consommé

   Stir the white consommé into the sieved soup and heat it gently until the first small bubbles appear at the edge. Simmer for 3 minutes, then taste and correct the salt. The soup should pour in a broad ribbon, neither stand like sauce nor run like broth. Remove the pan from the heat before preparing the liaison.

7. 7

   Temper the liaison

   Whisk the egg yolks with all but 2 tablespoons of the cream in a heatproof bowl. Add about 1 cup of the hot soup in four small additions, whisking continuously, then pour the tempered liaison back into the saucepan. Set it over the lowest heat and stir constantly for 2 to 4 minutes, just until the soup gains a delicate body and coats the spoon. It must not bubble. At the first sign of graininess, pull the pan from the heat, whisk in the reserved cold cream, blend briefly, and pass the soup through a clean fine-mesh sieve. Ça se rattrape, provided you catch it before a hard boil.

8. 8

   Finish and garnish

   Keep the pan off the heat and whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of cold butter, a small piece at a time, until the surface shines. Place the Chiffonade (No. 215) in a warmed soup tureen or divide it among six warmed bowls. Ladle in the Velouté Comtesse and arrange the 12 reserved asparagus tips on top, two per bowl, keeping them visible rather than stirring them under. Serve at once. À table!

Chef Tips

• •White asparagus must be peeled thoroughly. Begin below the tip and make overlapping strokes toward the base; one missed strip can leave a thread across an otherwise silken spoonful.
• •Fresh white asparagus gives the clearest flavour when it is firm and in season. If the market's spears are tired, use 1½ pounds drained good-quality jarred white asparagus, rinse it gently, omit the parboiling, and shorten the cooking in velouté to about 8 minutes. Check the salt carefully because preserved asparagus carries its own.
• •Choose a pale, lightly seasoned white consommé. A dark roasted stock muddies both colour and flavour, while an aggressively reduced or salty consommé overwhelms the asparagus.
• •The liaison and final butter belong at service. Once they enter, reheat only over gentle heat and keep the whisk moving. We don't apologize for butter, but we do treat it properly.
• •Pour a restrained dry white, such as a Loire Chenin Blanc or an unoaked white Burgundy. The wine needs freshness for the asparagus and enough body for the yolks and cream.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare the soup through the sieving step up to one day ahead. Cool it promptly, cover, and refrigerate. Reheat it gently with the white consommé, then add the liaison and butter only when you are ready to serve.
• •The 12 asparagus tips may be blanched earlier in the day, dried, covered, and chilled. Warm them for a minute in a spoonful of the measured consommé before arranging them on the finished soup.
• •Leftover finished soup keeps for up to two days under refrigeration. Reheat it slowly while stirring, never allowing it to boil; loosen it with a spoonful of water if it has tightened.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 275g)