Asparagus Soups - Various Asparagus Soup Recipes

Summer Asparagus Soup

Instructions:

2 tb Butter
1 Onion, chopped
1 1/2 lb Asparagus, fresh
2 tb Flour
6 c Water, boiling
2 ts Salt
1/4 c Chicken broth, rich
-(optional) 2 Egg yolks
1/2 c Milk

Melt the butter in a pan big enough to cook the soup. Saute the onions for a few minutes, until transparent but not brown. Meanwhile, slice the asparagus into thin slices. Now add the sliced asparagus pieces to the onions and continue to saute (over medium to medium-high heat) for 15 minutes, until most of the moisture has steamed out of the asparagus and the mixture has just barely started to brown. Add the flour to the onion/asparagus mixture and stir well to coat each piece with some flour. Cook for 2 or 3 more minutes over medium-high heat. Dump the boiling water into the asparagus mixture. Add the (optional) chicken broth and the salt. Simmer for 1 hour. Strain out the cooked asparagus, leaving behind a thin yellow-green soup. Thicken the soup with the 2 egg yolks. Add the milk and reheat the soup to serving temperature. Add salt and fresh-ground white pepper to taste. Serve immediately. NOTES: * A light and simple asparagus soup -- Every summer, it seems, the grocery stores are glutted with cheap asparagus. Most of the classical recipes for asparagus soup produce a hearty winter-style soup. Here's a simple recipe for a delicious, light, thin soup that is more in keeping with the time of the year that the glut occurs. You can leave out the chicken broth to make it a meatless soup, but it does require egg yolks. Yield: Serves 4-6. * The slicing disk on a food processor does an excellent job of slicing the asparagus for this recipe. You can use a food mill, a china cap, or an ordinary sieve to strain the cooked asparagus out of the broth. * Don't try to make this soup as a low-salt soup by leaving out the salt. It will taste like dishwater if you cook the asparagus for an hour without salt. Don't try to skimp on time by leaving the cooked asparagus in the broth unstrained. It will ruin the texture. : Difficulty: easy to moderate (thickening soup with egg yolks is not a beginner's skill). : Time: 10 minutes preparation, 1 hour simmering, 5 minutes finishing.


Asparagus Soup (Zuppa Di Asparagi)

Instructions:

2 tb Extra-virgin olive oil
2 Cloves garlic, minced
2 lb Asparagus, trimmed, peeled
-and cut (1 inch pieces) Salt and pepper 1 qt Chicken broth
4 Eggs
1/2 c Freshly grated Parmesan or
-pecorino cheese 6 sl Italian bread, toasted

Heat the oil and garlic in a soup pot until the garlic is golden. Add the asparagus and cook until they begin to color. Season with salt and pepper. Add the broth and bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the asparagus is tender. Beat the eggs and cheese together. When the asparagus is tender, reduce the heat so the soup is no longer simmering. Very slowly ladle some of the hot soup into the beaten eggs, stirring continuously. After adding about 2 cups of the hot soup to the eggs, reverse the process and gradually stir the eggs mixture into the soup pot. The soup must not boil or the eggs will scramble. Heat until thickened. Put one slice of toasted bread into each soup dish. Ladle the hot soup on top and pass additional grated cheese. Serves 6. NOTE: To trim asparagus, hold the tip in one hand and the base of the stalk in the other. Bend gently. The asparagus will snap, leaving the tender part with the tip.


Asparagus Soup #1

Instructions:

2 lb Asparagus, cut diag 1" piece
1 ea Clove pressed garlic
3 ea Sliced leeks
4 ea Chopped thinly green onions
3 tb Butter
1 ea Chopped small red potato
4 c Water
1 ea Vegetable,beef, chicken cube
1 tb Soy sauce
1 c Cream
2 tb Tarragon
2 tb Basil

Saute vegetables in butter for 5 minutes. Add water and bouillon cube; simemr 5 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients and simmer 10 minutes more. Serve.


Asparagus Soup #2

Instructions:

1 1/2 lb Fresh asparagus washed and
-tough/dry ends removed 1/4 c (1/2 stick) unsalted
-butter 1 c Carefully washed and chop
-leeks white part only 1/2 c Chopped onion
1/2 c Chopped celery
1 sm Baking potato (about 1/2
-lb) peeled and cubed 3 1/2 c Chicken stock
1 ts Lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste Paprika, optional 1/2 c Half-and-half

Creme fraiche/whipped cream -for garnish Snap off asparagus tips and set the stalks aside. Melt butter in a deep skillet with a cover. Add asparagus tips, onion, leeks, celery and potato. Cover lightly and cook over the very lowest heat until vegetables are soft, 20 minutes or more.

Meanwhile, place chicken stock in a large saucepan with the reserved asparagus stalks, cut into large pieces. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered tightly, for about 30 minutes. Discard stalks and set stock aside. In a food processor, puree softened vegetables and add to the asparagus stock. Season with lemon juice, salt, white pepper and paprika, if desired. Allow to cool and refrigerate. Stir in half-and-half and serve garnished with a dollop of creme fraiche or whipped cream and a sprinkling of paprika, if desired.


Cream Of Asparagus Soup

Instructions:

1 pound asparagus, spears, fresh
1 each onion, diced
1 tablespoon butter
3 cup chicken stock
1 each potato, peeled, diced
1 each celery, stalk, chopped
1 each thyme, sprig, fresh, or 1 ts dried
1 cup milk, low-fat
1 pepper, freshly ground, to taste

Soak and rinse asparagus. Remove top 1 inch of each spear, discard tough lower part, reserving middle portion of stalks. In a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat, saut?nion in butter for 3 to 5 minutes or until translucent. Add chicken stock, asparagus tips and stems, potato, celery, thyme, and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes or until vegetables are soft.

Remove from heat and let cool. Remove asparagus tips and set aside. Place half of the soup at a time in a blender container. Cover and blend at high speed for 20 to 30 seconds or until very smooth. Pass through a fine sieve and return blended soup to saucepan. Add reserved asparagus tips and cream (or half and half, or milk) and heat thoroughly, or refrigerate to be served cold.


Curried Cold Asparagus Soup

Instructions:

1 lb Asparagus
5 c Chicken broth
Salt 1/4 c Unsalted butter
1/4 c Flour
3 Egg yolk
1 ts Curry powder (or more)
3/4 c Whipping cream
1 ds Lemon juice

Freshly ground pepper Snap off woody ends from asparagus stalks. Clean stalks with vegetable peeler, cut off tips and reserve. Combine chicken broth and asparagus stalks in large kettle. Heat to boiling, cover, reduce heat and simmer 40 to 45 minutes. Drop asparagus tips into boiling, lightly salted water and cook 3 to 5 minutes or until tender. Drain and reserve. Puree broth and asparagus stalk mixture in blender. Melt butter in heavy saucepan, add flour and cook, stirring, 2 minutes without browning. Add puree all at once and bring soup to boil. Cook over low heat until thickened and mixture lightly coats spoon. Stir small amount of soup into egg yolks. Add egg mixture to soup. Stir in curry powder, cream and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in asparagus tips. Serve chilled. Makes 4 to 6 servings