Asparagus Soup

When I was in third grade, I was a member of a “detective’s club”. It consisted of my best friend Chantelle, a boy named Matt, and me. We didn’t really do anything, except wander around the playground and write information down about different things we noticed. “It looks like so and so has a crush on so and so…” or “ So and so is trying to kiss the girls again. Watch out!” or “Susy got a new purple automatic flashing yo-yo.” Yo-Yo’s were big in third grade. You had to have a cool yo-yo to be popular. While we spent some of our time  being sneaky and taking notes, in the spring we spent most of our time along the chain link fence surrounding the playground hunting for asparagus. For some reason we noticed it growing right next to the fence on the other side, barely with in the reach of our tiny hands. Looking back, I am pretty sure the asparagus belonged to the neighbors on the other side of the fence, but we were certain that it was wild asparagus growing there just for us. We would nibble on it through recess, because it was a novelty, not because we liked the taste. I thought I was pretty cool, knowing where to scavenge for food on the play ground.

To this day, asparagus seems like a special treat to me. I know it is out of season, but my husband came home with a beautiful bunch the other day and I couldn’t resist posting what I made. This soup is delicious! Even if you don’t like asparagus, you will probably enjoy this soup.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound asparagus
• 4 oz. sliced mushrooms
• 2 tsp. canola or olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium potato, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 3 C. vegetable stock (I used chicken stock)
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper ( I just used black pepper)
• 1 C. milk
• 1/2 tsp. ground savory ( This is an herb. I don’t have it, so I left it out).
• salt to taste
• 1/4 C. chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Directions:

1. Rinse the asparagus under running cold water. Cut of the tips. Cut the stalks into 1/2 inch slices, discarding the woody bases. Blanch the tips and stalks for 3 minutes ( blanching means cooking in briefly in boiling water). Then plunge them into cold water and drain. Doing this will help keep the color nice and green. Reserve some of the tips for garnish.

2. Heat the oil in a 6 quart pot over medium high heat for 1 minute. Add the onion and sauté until it is translucent. Stir in the mushrooms, asparagus, potato, stock, and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil.

3. Reduce the heat and simmer until potatoes and asparagus are tender. This should take about 12 minutes. Use a handheld immersion blender or a stand blender to puree the mixture. It should be smooth with some mushroom bits.

4. Stir in the milk and savory and heat through (do not boil), about 5 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Top each serving with parsley and asparagus tips.

Recipe adapted from A Great Bowl of Soup by Christine Byrnes.