North German asparagus soup with shrimp

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 20 m.-sized shrimp(s), raw, peeled, with tail, frozen
• 10 stalk(s) asparagus, green or white, fresh
• 400 ml water (asparagus water), frozen, see note
• 1 tbsp glutamate (Aji-No-Moto)
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 2 tbsp celery leaves, fresh or frozen
• 40 g carrot(s)
• e.g. chicken broth
• n. B. Pepper, black, from the mill

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 35 minutes

An extraordinary combination that not only looks good but also tastes good.

Thaw the asparagus water and place it in a saucepan. Thaw the prawns in the package. Wash the fresh asparagus spears, trim the bottom ends about 1 cm, peel them, and cut them crosswise into about 3 cm long pieces. Discard the peels and trimmings (see note). Wash the carrot, trim both ends, peel them, and slice the carrots into about 3 mm thick slices using a corrugated grater. Reserve the remaining carrot for another purpose. Bring the asparagus water to a simmer and add the carrot slices. Heat the sunflower oil in a pan and fry the prawns until pink. As soon as they change color, remove them from the pan. Deglaze the pan stock with half of the asparagus water and return it to the saucepan along with the asparagus pieces. Simmer for another four minutes. Turn off the heat and add the prawns to the soup. Chop the fresh celery leaves and add them to the soup. Season the soup to taste and divide it between serving bowls, serve and enjoy. Note: Asparagus should be cooked in as little water as possible and for as short a time as possible, as it absorbs its flavor into the water. A pan is best for this. Instead of salt in the water, use instant chicken stock. Freeze the cooking water and store it until you have enough for a good soup. You can reuse the asparagus water for cooking other asparagus dishes if you like. Boiling the asparagus peels and cape trimmings doesn’t add much, it just produces a somewhat straw-like flavor that is vaguely reminiscent of asparagus. In other words, the effort and expense isn’t really worth it.