He came back from NYC and apparently he ate very well up there. Seems the clients did a full round of different cuisine and each night had a different cultural offering. One night was spent in Little Italy, another at a French restaurant, etc.
Although he came home sick with something, his tastebuds were not at all sick and he rattled off the different meals.
His is not a cook. When we first married, our kitchen was too small for both of us working there, so I took over all kitchen duty. Four years ago he made it a very large kitchen…almost too much so, but then again, when you can place a wing chair for reading, plus an island and table and 4 chairs….. with all the cabinets and counters, etc. that a normal kitchen has….it will find it’s purpose eventually.
I like to cook because he has a large marble slab as a counter top in one place and this is great for rolling out dough and kneading breads. Unfortunately, the general counters are copper. I don’t recommend this at all. They stain and the green patina that is nice on roofs just don’t look sanitary in a kitchen. Every so often, I scrub the tops (actually a lot…) with steel wool…and that makes (for a while) circular patterns in the copper. They look like crop circles in England for a while before the whole process needs to be done again.
I am convinced that copper, steel, etc…are masculine ideas of a kitchen, which would be good if he ever used it.
We have a small den off the kitchen, with a wide entrance so he can bark orders to the cook while he watches tv.
But since he has come back from NY, he seems interested in cooking.
Today he asked me to buy the makings for something he had up there: Asparagus and Shrimp soup. He doesn’t know anything about the exact ingredients but he wants to make this himself.
Now, we generally are more concerned with health, and when he rolled off the ingredients, I started to wonder. Asparagus and grilled shrimp are fine, but I am bothered by the HEAVY cream, butter and olive oil. We use olive oil a lot, but not butter and heavy cream.
I am concerned also with his reciting the ‘necessary’ spices for this soup: Sage, rosemary, bay leaves, all fresh. Well….my dear non cooking husband doesn’t understand that fresh herbs can be very strong and the combination can completely overwhelm the soup.
So…Here is a close version, as close as I can think would be right, and frankly the internet didn’t help one bit.
Cream of Asparagus and Shrimp Soup
1 bunch of asparagus,(green not white) peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks.
3 cups of vegetable stock
2 cups of Heavy Cream
1/4 lb of butter
1 package of cut mushrooms, fresh
1 tablespoon of flour
1/2 cup of sherry
8 oz. of cocktail shrimp, sauteed in butter
Puree the boiled asparagus, combine with the stock and simmer for 15 minutes, add the flour (actually make a roux..otherwise you have lumps) shrimp, mushrooms, heavy cream and also 1/2 cup of sherry. Simmer very low heat and season to taste.
I would say that parsley , cut up , a good handful, would be the only herb you would need here…except for a grating of fresh nutmeg.
I’ll report back with the results….but I think I will make this myself, because he will use every pot and pan in the kitchen and I will be left to clean it up.
Plus, I can always bribe him with the sherry.
Lady Nyo
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