Altmark-Style Wedding Soup

This is a soup that hails from the Altmark region of Germany.  It is tradionally served on the day of a wedding to bring good luck in the future of the marriage, but it is commonly also made for special occasions.  This version of the soup use white asparagus which are a seasonal vegetable in Germany during May.  They can however be purchased year-round.  If white asparagus are not available, then green asparagus will be a suitable replacement (they do not need to be peel however). The soup is also traditionally served at the table with a bottle of Maggi Würze.

Ingredients

1 soup chicken
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. white asparagus
4 eggs
vermecelli noodles
water
onion

Put the soup chicken in a large pot and cover with water, cut the onion in half (with skin still on, it gives the broth a little color) and add salt and pepper, if you are using white asparagus, peel the asparagus and cut off the ends, add these to the stock.  Bring to a boil, cover, then simmer for 1 1/2 hours (30 minutes in a pressure cooker) until the meat is coming off the bones.  Remove chicken from pot, and strain the broth.  Return broth the the pot.  Take the ground meat and season to your liking (I used lovage or Liebstöckel, but parsley should also work well) and add salt and pepper.  Roll the meatballs about 1 inch in diameter.

Bring the stock to a boil, add the meatballs one by one to prevent sticking.  Then slice the asparagus

Now add the asparagus to the pot. 

The next step is to crack the four eggs in a small saucepan and beat until smooth.  Place the saucepan into a larger saucepan filled with boiling water.  The heat from the boiling water will begin to cook the egg, wait until the egg is completely cooked, then remove from pot.  Cut the egg into small cubes and add to the soup.  Finally, add the small vermecelli noodles to the soup.  Continue cooking over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until noodles are done.  Serve the soup ladled into bowls with a bottle of Maggi Würze at the table. Guten Appetit!