Asparagus Soup

To celebrate the arrival of spring in the Northeast (it's been spring for months in the Southwest!) we are making soup from the springiest of vegetables, asparagus.  The basic recipe is quite simple--an Amish soup from the Midwest--but I'm sure we will fiddle with it a bit (that makes me think of fiddleheads, but I think they are already past their prime in the cooler regions already and they never appear in markets in southern New Mexico).

ASPARAGUS SOUP (adapted from Cooking from Quilt Country)

1 lb. asparagus spears
2 c. chicken broth
2 T. butter
2 T. minced onion
2 T. flour
1/4 t. salt
l/4 t. grated nutmeg
1/8 t. powdered mustard
1/8 c. half and half
Dash of Tabasco
Croutons

Break the tough ends off the spears and cut off the tips and reserve.  Cut the stalks nto 2 inch pieces.  Put the stalks and the broth in a med. saucepan, bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer for 5 min.  Let cool slightly, then puree with a hand-held blender.  In another saucepan, melt the butter, then add the onion and cook over med. low heat until the onion is transparent.  Stir in the flour, salt, nutmeg and mustard and cook and whisk until the mixture bubbles, about 2 min.  Add the half and half all at once, cooking and whisking until the mixture thickens.  Add the asparagus and broth puree, reserved tips, and Tabasco.  Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat just long enough to cook the tips, about 3 min.  Sprinkle croutons over the top before eating.


CASSIE'S VERSION

I was fairly swift in making this soup, as my mom posted the recipe just before I headed to the grocery store.  I did actually see fiddlehead ferns there (as well as fresh chickpeas and fresh, unpeeled almonds - this is a pretty amazing store).  We also bought a single morel to saute in butter (they were something like $32/pound, so one is all I could justify!).

Because there was so much asparagus available, and the soup sounded so good, I decided to double the recipe.  Made as written, I think it would be fairly bland, but with my modifications it was delicious.  I left out the hot sauce and added a 1/2 tsp. of smoked paprika, as I thought its flavors would complement the other elements of the soup quite well.  I had fresh sage so I added a generous few tablespoons chopped leaves.  I thought the soup could be a bit richer, so I added maybe 1/8 of a cup more of half-and-half.  I had to increase the salt quite a bit, though I'm not sure how much I added.  I also liberally cracked fresh pepper into the soup, added several shakes of hot pepper flakes, threw in some dried marjoram at the last minute, and then finished it off with the juice of one whole lemon, plus the juice of half a Meyer lemon that needed to be used up.

I topped the soup bowls with fresh croutons, which I made using sourdough bread, good olive oil, and garlic salt.  I served the soup alongside chicken sausages.  Delicious!  A great soup for spring.


ANN'S VERSION

I had wonderful local purple asparagus from the co-op for this soup, but I know from past experience that purple asparagus turns green when it's cooked so I wasn't hoping for any special color.  The really cool surprise was that since the tips are reserved and only cooked briefly at the end they actually stayed purple!  So, nice contrast between the green soup and the floating purple tips.  I also doubled this recipe, finding it hard to believe that any Amish family could sit down to dinner with only one quart of soup.  My changes and substitutions are given for the original size recipe.

I added 2 T. minced parsley and 1 T. fresh lemon thyme to the stems as they cooked and also added 1/4 t. urfa pepper (dark and smoky and not too hot) to the flour, butter and spices.  When I went to the refrigerator for my half and half all I found was a partial carton of heavy cream gone quite bad and some 2% milk--oops!  It seemed the soup was going to be quite thick so I used the 2% and upped the quantity to 1 cup, adding 2 T. more butter to make up the richness.  The soup thickened and was very flavorful even with the reduced fat milk.  I added the tips with the pureed broth and stems to the milky mixture and simmered it for about 5 minutes or so.  At the end I added the juice of half a meyer lemon and another 1/2 t. salt. 

I'd put some homemade croutons to bake in the oven while making the soup and croutons and soup were done at the same time.  My croutons are just cubed french bread, a fair amount of olive oil, herbs de provence and kosher salt.  The soup was wonderful and the lemon thyme was the real star.  It's the perfect herb for asparagus and luckily I used just the right amount so it was noticeable but not overpowering.  I ate the croutons on the side (much better than crackers!).  Great soup for a spring day!