Chicken soup with asparagus, snow peas and rice

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 bunch of soup vegetables, roughly diced
• 1 soup chicken, alternatively: poularde
• 1 tsp peppercorns, white
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 ½ liters of chicken broth
• 250 g asparagus, white
• 250 g asparagus, green
• 200 g sugar snap peas, halved crosswise
• 200 g long grain rice, cooked according to package instructions
• e.g. salt and pepper
• 250 ml cream
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• Sugar
• 4 tbsp parsley, flat, chopped
• ½ lemon(s), fine zest

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 45 minutes

Place the chicken in a tall pot with the vegetables, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Pour in the broth and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam and simmer, covered, over medium heat for about 1 hour. Remove the chicken from the broth, pour the broth through a fine sieve, and return it to the pot. Reduce the broth by about 1/3. Skin and bone the chicken, and finely chop the meat. Add the peeled white asparagus, cut diagonally into approximately 2 cm long pieces, to the broth and cook for a total of 8 minutes. After 4 minutes, add the green asparagus, peeled the lower third, cut diagonally into approximately 2 cm long pieces, and the snow peas. Stir in the cream, meat, and cooked rice, bring to a boil briefly, and season to taste with salt, pepper, sugar, lemon juice, and zest. Sprinkle with parsley to serve. Serve as a main course for 4 people. Serve as a starter soup for 8-12 people.