Carrot and Orange Velvet Soup with Foam of Serrano Ham and Herb Sticks

For the soup, first peel the shallots and cut them into cubes. Then peel the carrots and cut into pieces, as well as peel the ginger and cut into small pieces.

Either buy the orange juice freshly squeezed or halve about four oranges yourself and squeeze out. Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onion until translucent. Add the carrots and ginger, sauté briefly and deglaze with orange juice and vegetable stock. Let the soup simmer on medium heat for about 20 minutes.

Puree the soft-boiled carrots with a hand blender and add salt and pepper to taste. Then pass the soup through a fine sieve several times, if necessary, so that you get a very velvety soup. Now keep the soup warm on the oven while you prepare the herb sticks and the Serrano ham foam.

Take the puff pastry for the herb sticks out of the package and spread them out. Cut the dough into approx. 3 cm thick strips, brush with an egg yolk and sprinkle with fresh herbs and salt. Twist the whole thing two or three times and bake in a preheated oven, depending on the instructions on the package.

While the sticks are in the oven, the Serrano ham foam is prepared. To do this, the whole ham is cut into cubes and seared in a saucepan over a gentle heat. Add the milk and let it boil briefly. Then strain the Serrano ham with the help of a sieve and froth the milk (with the machine or by hand).

To serve, pour the soup into a latte macchiato glass, put foam on top and across the glass with the herb stick.