Carrot and Artichoke Soup

Ingredients

• ¼ pound fresh butter
• 2 handfuls flour
• Soup (quantity unspecified)
• 2 sprigs sweet basil
• A few heads of parsley
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Cayenne pepper, to taste
• Coarse sea salt, to taste
• 4 glasses sherry wine
• 4-5 hard-boiled eggs
• 1-2 raw egg whites
• Flour for dusting
• Butter for frying

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a stewpan.

2. Add the flour and stir continuously until browned.

3. Pour in a little of the soup, add basil and parsley, and boil for 15 minutes.

4. Strain the mixture through a sieve.

5. Combine the strained mixture, meat pieces, and remaining soup, and boil for 1 hour.

6. Stir in ketchup, lemon juice, Cayenne pepper, and salt to taste.

7. Optionally, add sherry wine at this stage.

8. For egg-balls, remove yolks from hard-boiled eggs and beat with salt and Cayenne pepper.

9. Mix yolks into a paste with raw egg whites and form into small marble-sized balls.

10. Dust the balls in flour and fry in butter or brown them over a fire, keeping them whole.

11. Add the egg-balls to the soup when serving.