Friday 6 January 2012

Asparagus soup



Asparagus soup


With asparagus still in season and pretty cheap, I set out to make asparagus soup.  I based it on Stephanie Alexander’s recipe but didn’t follow it exactly.  I used 2 bunches of asparagus.

What I did was to cut the bottom half inch off the stalks and discarded them.  They are too woody.  I then cut the tender tips off about half of the asparagus.  With the asparagus then left, you slice it all up as thinly as you can.  If you were picky or if it was really fat asparagus you could give the bottom end a bit of a peel with a potato peeler before slicing.

Then cook your tips in boiling but very lightly salted water for no more than say 3 minutes.  Drain and put aside for using later.

Melt some butter (quite a lot about 50-60g) and sweat a sliced onion, 2 cloves of sliced garlic and 1 or 2 chopped potatoes for about 5 minutes.  Add to this while sweating any fresh herbs you have like chervil or thyme.  If you don’t have fresh either leave them out or use a teeny teeny bit of dried.

Add a litre or so of water and then simmer for 15 minutes until potato is soft, then increase the heat, add the sliced asparagus and boil for 5 minutes.  Then you are supposed to sieve the results – well that didn’t work for me and I just stick blended it and left it at that.

Taste and season with salt and white pepper to taste then serve with a dollop of cream or sour cream or crème fraiche and when serving add back in the cooked tips of asparagus which you warm up in butter or with a quick rinse of hot water.  Pop a few chopped fresh herbs on top for garnish – or a couple of small basil leaves.


You might also be interested in this post on a bacon and asparagus salad.  If so, click here


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38 comments:

  1. What a beautiful soup! it sounds so good!
    thanks for stopping by mu blog too.

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  2. PS how did you get the recommend this on Google, twitter and such buttons under your posts? I can't figure it out?

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    1. Sorry I can't help you - they just were there when I originally set up the blog on Google Blogger. Thanks for your comment

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    2. your welcome!I suspect I should change over too.
      thank you!!

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  3. Hi Carole ~ Your asparagus soup looks (and sounds!) delicious. We like asparagus but have never tried it in a soup. We will have to try this. Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a comment.

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  4. Hi,
    Nice meeting you.I love the color of your soup and I am sure it taste superb! Love to try this comfy soup!

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    1. Hope you enjoy it . Thanks for the comment.

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  5. It looks wonderful! Fresh asparagus has such a great colour and taste

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    1. Hey thanks for the comment. You might also like my bacon and asparagus salad.

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  6. Looks delicious....I love the color and I really enjoy asparagus..but all I usually do with it is roast it. This would be a nice change!

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    1. Thanks for the comments - I have never roasted it - normally just a quick boil and then some lemon juice and maybe butter over it

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  7. I love my immersion blender, partly because I am too lazy to strain soup! Your soup looks tasty!

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    1. I don't actually use mine all that often. I try to keep pretty low tech in the kitchen.

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  8. Hi Carole,

    Great recipe, look forward to trying it.
    Gordon

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  9. That does look yummy. Thanks for stopping by!

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    Replies
    1. thanks for your comment. Much appreciated

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  10. I love asparagus but I've never had it in soup. Sounds delicious.

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    1. It is worth the effort. Thanks for stopping by to comment.

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  11. Beautiful soup and perfect for the season here.

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  12. I know it takes time to comment, so thank you very much.

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  13. What a beautiful bowl of Spring sitting right there.

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    1. It's autumn here so I have to wait a while before fresh local asparagus comes round again. Thanks for the comment.

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  14. I've never made asparagus soup, your recipe sounds like a keeper.

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  15. I make all sorts of soups like this, using different veggies with the same base. The only differences is I use stock instead of water. the last one I made way carrot/parsnip..yum

    you have to love those stick blenders!

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  16. This is the soup i want to be eating. must go and check to see if my asparagus survived the winter. Thanks

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  17. I've never had asparagus soup, it looks delicious! I've finally come around to really loving asparagus, as a kid I wouldn't touch it. Tastes change, thank goodness!

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    1. Isn't that the truth - it took me a while to get the taste for avocado!

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  18. I love asparagus and we've been eating a lot of it lately because it's in season. Like Caite, I think I'd use stock to make this.

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    1. I'll have to try that - would want to be sure the asparague flavour wasn't overwhelmed by the stock. look forward to next week's Weekend Cooking.

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  19. I'm absolutely kicking myself! My stepmom gave me a giant bag of mushy asparagus last weekend in hopes that I might be able to feed it to my daughter, but I was afraid it would make her gassy so I tossed it. Would have been PERFECT for this, though. Didn't know asparagus soup existed!

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  20. This looks delicious. Thanks for sharing on my blog hop!

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    1. You are welcome. I do a linky up on Fridays. Do stop by.

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  21. Carole,
    Hi! I've been wanting an asparagus soup recipe. Thank you for sharing.
    Pat

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  22. Goodness this looks fantastic! Still finding asparagus at the farmer's market and may need to try this!

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  23. Great soup! It really sounds fantastic
    I'm pinning this

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  24. I dislike running soup through a sieve--so hard to clean. I think your idea of using the stick blender was the way to go! I bet it gave your soup a creamier texture too. Love the color!
    Thanks for linking up this week, Carole!

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