In season when I am eating lots of asparagus, I often save the bottom 1/3 or so of the stalks (after removing the brown, woody ends) for soup-a great way to use up a not so attractive part of the spear and be cost effective too. Of course, you will need to make the soup within a few days of saving the bottom of the stalks. This soup is best when freshly made. It will lose a lot of color when frozen, but it will taste fine.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs asparagus
- 1 TBL unsalted butter
- ½ C small diced onions
- ¼ C small diced celery
- ¼ C small dice leeks
- 2 TBL all-purpose flour
- 2 quarts chicken stock
- A sachet with: 2 parley stems, 1 dried bay leaf, 4 whole peppercorns, cracked, 1 thyme sprig
- 4-6 oz heavy cream
- Kosher salt and pepper to taste
1) Cut the brownish, woody ends off the asparagus. Discard.
2) Cut about 8 pretty closed heads (tips) off the spears, cut in ½ lengthwise and set aside. Cut the remaining spears into 1” lengths.
3) Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Have a bowl of iced water handy. Cook the cut up asparagus until JUST tender. Drain and plunge the asparagus immediately into the bowl of ice water. This will stop the cooking and is one of the keys to a nice bright green soup versus a greyish looking product. When the asparagus is cool, drain again and set aside. DO NOT LEAVE IN THE WATER-the asparagus will take on water and become soggy.
4) In a soup pot, melt the butter and sweat (cook over low-medium heat until translucent-about 8 min) the onions, celery and leeks.
5) Sprinkle with the flour and stir until the vegetable mixture just starts to color. Be careful not to burn the flour…low and slow.
6) Carefully add the stock, whisking briskly to work out any lumps. Bring the soup to a boil and add about ½ of the 1” spears. Turn down to a simmer. Simmer about 30 minutes.
7) Add the sachet (the herbs/spices wrapped in a cheesecloth bag OR strip the thyme from the stems, crack the peppercorns and along with the dried bay leaf and parsley stems, add these directly to the pot). Simmer for another 20 minutes.
8) Remove the sachet or, if you added the herbs/spices directly to the pot, remove the bay leaf.
9) Put into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the contents back into the pot. You can hold the soup overnight, refrigerated or for several hours on the stove at this point.
WHEN YOU ARE ALMOST READY TO SERVE THE SOUP, reheat the soup, put it back into the blender, along with the other half of the cut up asparagus and blend.
Return the soup to the pot, add some cream (to taste) and season with salt and pepper. Serve IMMEDIATELY, sprinkled with two to three of the reserved asparagus tips.
This is the secret to the bright green color:
- Stopping the cooking of the asparagus by plunging it in cold water
- Blending that vibrantly colored asparagus in at the last minute
- Not putting too much heat on the soup for too long a time before service.
Bright enough for you?
