Asparagus in Orange-Vanilla-Butter with Scallops

800g Asparagus
50g Butter
2 Shallots
1 tbsp sugar
150 ml white wine
1 orange (organic preferably)
thyme
salt


Orange Vanilla Butter

20g Butter
2 Shallots in little cubes
1 cask of Orange, organic
80 ml Asparagus stock
juice of 2 oranges
1 vanilla husk
60g ice cold butter
Filets of 2 oranges
2 tbsp battered cream
2 tbsp parsley<
salt and chili to taste

Scallops
12 Scallops
olive oil
thyme
rosemary
salt, pepper


Clean the asparagus and cut it into 3cm long pieces. Let the butter melt in a pan, add the 2 halfed shallots. Add sugar and let it melt. Join the white wine and the asparagus. Add the sliced orange and the thyme. Let it simmer for around 15 minutes until the asparagus is al dente. Keep the stock.

For the Orange-Vanilla-Butter melt the butter, fry shallots and the cask of an orange. Join the stock and the orange juice, add the vanilla. Reduce to nearly half. Bind it with the cold butter, add salt and chili to taste. Join the orange filets and the batterd cream. Pour over the asparagus.

Fry the scallops with the herbs in olive oils. Serve the asparagus in deep dishes with the fried scallops on top.

Variation: instead of the scallops try sweetbread.

Café du Soleil, Genève

Location: Switzerland, Genève
Opening Hours: every day until 23h30, reservation is recommended
Prices: normal (for Switzerland)
overall rating: a must go there



Once in Genève, Café du Soleil is one of the spots you can't miss. According to the owners, "la cuisine du soleil, préparée avec des produits de la région et de saison, se veut simple et abordable". Although this is truth, prepare yourself to be surprised by the place, people and food.

We have tried the pavé de boeuf au poivre vert and fondue moitie-moitie. At this point, I have to explain that we were three persons at the Café. Otherwise it would be impossible to accomplish such a demanding goal. The pavé was saignant, comme il faut. It was pleasant, but not enought to justify the loss of the fondue.

The fondue is the speciality of the house and deserves a detailed description. It is made mainly with swiss cheese (Gruyère and Vacherin in equal portions), wine and kirsch. Start by squeezing small portions of bread on the fondue fork; after that you will get half an hour of pure pleasure. But be careful: according to Asterix experience, if you loose your bread in the fondue pot, you will have to dive in the frozen waters of Lac Leman. During the fondue it is normal that you need some help. A nice bottle of Chasselas white wine will do it just fine. This is a regular young wine with a subtle note of red fruits. It is not divine, but we wouldn't like to have something distracting us from the fondue. To finalize this magnificent dinner, we had a café and a calvados.

A last word for the very special atmosphere of the Café, a place where you will always find an expert advice on everything you need (even if you don't need or want the advice). If you visit Café du Soleil in January/February don't forget to ask for the nice calendars they have.