Chef Hans Over from restaurant Voilà takes you on a culinary day trip through Groningen. For his asparagus soup, he uses asparagus from the Groningen countryside, shrimps from Zoutkamp and salty sea vegetables, freshly picked in Noordpolderzijl. Cooking with local produce at its very best, you can too! We share his recipe here.
A culinary day trip through the province
It is actually quite strange: you can buy the most exotic ingredients at the supermarket, but to cook with only fresh local produce, you often have to make a detour. Fortunately, this is not a punishment in Groningen. Certainly not if you combine shopping with a relaxing road trip over the beautiful back roads of the Groningen countryside. Such a trip is rewarded, because asparagus harvested on the same day is not something you will easily find in the supermarket around the corner. For Hans, shopping is serious business, and today he takes you to Meinardi in Noordbroek, where the asparagus are so fresh that even the tips still glisten with juice. And for the tasty Dutch shrimps from SOLT' s Zoutkamper fishermen he drives to the Wadden Sea, the place that today also functions as a self-picking garden for a handful of salty sea vegetables.
" " To the farmer, an onion is not just an onion. There's a story behind it!" "
Hans Over - Restaurant Voilà
The recipe
1. Making Roux
Ingredients:
50 g butter
50 grams of flour
Melt the butter on low heat in a pan. Gradually add the flour, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula. Let the flour cook gently. If it remains moist, add a little flour until you get a dry roux. Once it is cooked, let it cool gently.
2. Making liaison
Ingredients:
1 egg yolk
100 ml cream
Add the egg yolk and cream together and mix with a whisk (do not whip)
3. Making asparagus broth
Ingredients:
250 grams of asparagus peelings
2 litres of water
10 peppercorns
4 mace
2 cloves
2 bay leaves
salt to taste
1/2 lemon
Crush the peppercorns and put everything in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil slowly. As soon as it boils, turn off the heat and leave the pan to stand for an hour. Pour the stock through a fine sieve into another pan.
4. Garnishes
Some nice pieces of asparagus (especially the heads)
Fresh samphire and sea lavender from the Wadden Sea
Dutch shrimps from Zoutkamp
Blanch the pretty pieces of asparagus in asparagus stock until al dente and leave to cool.
5. Making asparagus velouté
Ingredients:
50 g chopped onion
1 clove of finely chopped garlic
50 grams of roux(stap 1)
1 litre asparagus stock(stap 3)
500 grams asparagus (soup pieces, peeled)
liaison to taste(stap 2)
Put a small knob of butter in the pan and put the pan on low heat. Let the butter melt gently. In it, gently fry the onion and garlic. Add the roux. Let the roux slowly heat up and put the pan on high heat. While stirring constantly with a whisk, add the stock little by little. While continuing to stir, bring the stock to the boil. Add the asparagus soup pieces and simmer everything gently until the asparagus is tender. Puree everything with a hand blender until the soup is smooth. Just before serving, add the liaison to the soup and stir well. Note: the soup should not boil anymore at this point as this will cause the egg yolks to congeal and the soup to go off the boil.
6. Laying out plates
Place a generous spoonful of prawns in the plate. Garnish with the asparagus and salty sea vegetables. Pour the soup with the dish. Delicious with a piece of sourdough bread and a generous lick of farm butter.
