Fresh Asparagus Soup
Now that the weather is finally on the nicer side of “when the hell will spring get here anyway” I’ve been wearing shorts, finally. Over the decade that I lived in NYC I think I owned and wore one single pair of shorts, and then I probably only wore them in the privacy of my 250 square foot studio apartment in East Harlem. I don’t think I was every chided for wearing shorts in New York, but I always suspected that people would secretly talk trash about my pale knees if wore shorts in public. However, now that I live in the city where some dudes think it’s totally ok to wear flip-flops to the bar on a Saturday night, I have found that I don’t have the same qualms as I did on the east coast, and I wear shorts all the freakin’ time. Where was I going with that? Oh yeah, it’s warm enough to wear shorts! Hooray!
More importantly, the warm weather means that it is asparagus season! I went a little hog wild at the farmers market and the fridge was suddenly way to ofull of asparagus. You may recall that I made asparagus and Cellophane Noodles with Ginger Peanut Sauce on Friday. And then on Saturday night I fired up the grill and roasted some asparagus. What is that? You want more asparagus? You want to change the scent of your pee for the next week? Can do, my friend, can do.
Pee jokes aside, I love asparagus and on Sunday I whipped up some fresh asparagus soup. It is creamy and delicious … and it contains no cream! It is good hot, room temperature, and even cold. If you serve it cold you can call it asparagus gazpacho! Because you are a sophisticated foodie! The color is lovely and the recipe is super easy. Impress your friends with your culinary talents!
Recipe: Fresh Asparagus Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tb olive oil
- 2 small onions, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2 quarts of Chicken Stock
- 1 large russet potato, cubed
- 1 lb fresh asparagus, chopped and woody ends removed (see note)
- 2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh peas, optional (see note)
- 1/2 lemon, optional
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a 6 quart pot for about five minutes until soft. Add in the garlic and sauté for another minute.
- Add in the chicken stock and potato, then bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the potatoes are soft. Add in the asparagus and cook until just starting to get tender (2 minutes for very fresh asparagus, a little longer for less fresh). Add in the spinach and simmer for another minute or so.
- Remove soup from the heat, then, using either a blender (in batches) or an immersion blender, puree the soup until completely smooth. Serve hot, room temperature or cold topped with asparagus tips and/or fresh peas and a spritz of lemon juice.
Quick notes
You can reserve a handful of asparagus tips for garnish. Simply blanche them in boiling water for a minute or so, then submerge them in ice water to lock in the beautiful green color. For the peas, you can use fresh peas without cooking them at all, or blanche some frozen peas the same way as the asparagus. Or skip the peas altogether.
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