Cream of asparagus soup with Morels

Cream of asparagus soup with Morels
'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'.

Servings: 4
8 Thin green asparagus spears
6 Fat green asparagus spears,-- about 10 cm (4 in) long
1 Shallot, medium-sized
100 g Fresh morels (3 1/2 oz) or-- 15 g (1/2 oz) dried ones
100 g Unsalted butter (3 1/2 oz)
200 ml Double cream (scant 1/2 pint)
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne

Preparation
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 two-thirds of the chopped shallot
and colour in the butter. Add the six fat asparagus spears and 200 ml (a
scant 1/2 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.