Archive for June, 2019

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Wednesday, June 19th, 2019

 

Here in Western Massachusetts we are still enjoying my favorite vegetable in the entire world, ASPARAGUS.

Mostly I just steam, roast, or boil it to eat plain or put in salads. But on my last television appearance I decided to make soup. It was lovely and green and oh, so asparagus-y.

If you want a lighter soup, omit the potato. It does make the soup heartier, however. My neighbors came over to finish up the leftovers and left very happy indeed.

On TV (and for the neighbors) I followed up with Fannie Farmer’s peanut butter cookies. The perfect meal.

The Soup

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped relatively but not obsessively small
3 cups asparagus pieces (about 1 pound; be sure to break off the tough ends before cutting—and if you want stronger asparagus flavor feel free to add more of it!)
1 medium baking potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup heavy cream
chopped fresh chives or dill

Instructions:

Combine the butter and oil over low heat in a 4-quart saucepan. When the butter melts, add the onion pieces and cook them until they become golden, stirring constantly. (This should take a little under 10 minutes.)

Add the asparagus and potato pieces. Toss lightly; then stir in the stock and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cook, partly covered, until the vegetables become tender, about 15 minutes.

Cool the soup for a couple of minutes; then puree it in a blender. (Or use an immersion blender.) At this stage you may refrigerate the soup if you don’t want to use it right away. Just be sure to reheat it before going to the next step.

Add salt and pepper as desired to the warm soup, and add the cream. Heat the soup a little longer to make sure the cream is warm as well. Garnish with the herbs. Serves 4.

I’m not giving you the cookie recipe, because if you don’t have a copy of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, you should buy one IMMEDIATELY and seek it out there.

Happy almost summer!

And now the videos:

Tinky Makes Cream of Asparagus Soup

Tinky Makes Peanut-Butter Cookies