Finally, it feels like Spring! The temperatures have warmed up and I’m tempted to step into my gardens and start cleaning up.
At the least, I’ll be rotating my compost piles this weekend. Its been a long winter of adding scraps of veg, chicken poop, and shavings from the coop. It needs to be rotated and aerated. I’m hoping to have a great batch of compost from last season to start my Spring garden off right.
One thing I’d like to plant this year on my urban homestead is a patch of asparagus.
Although it grows wild in the ditches of Iowa and is fun to forage for, it can only be nice having a reliable patch in your backyard especially to make asparagus soup. It’s still too early to find any asparagus grown locally, but seeing it sold in abundance at local grocery stores had me craving to make this soup.
This asparagus soup is a perfect quick meal to have on a busy Spring day. It’s a delicate, creamy soup made nourishing by adding homemade chicken broth. For a bit of complexity I added a bit of arugula which didn’t bother the children at the least.
However, spinach can be substituted which the children equally enjoy. My favorite part about this soup is garnishing with feta cheese and brightening it with roughly chopped bits of fresh mint.
A creamy asparagus soup recipe that makes a perfect quick meal to have on a busy Spring day
Ingredients:
- 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
- 1 leek, sliced in rounds and washed thoroughly (I only use the white base up to the light green area)
- 1 tbls butter
- 1 lb asparagus, choppped into thirds. (The ends are tough and woody and shouldn’t be cooked with, however, they are great for a vegetable broth. Cut the ends off, about 1”- 2,” first and freeze.)
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup packed arugula - sub 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup cream
- fresh mint and feta cheese to garnish
- Salt
Method:
- In a dutch oven, melt 1 tbls of butter and add the onion. Lightly saute with a dash of salt until it just begins to turn transluscent; 3-4 minutes.
- Add the leeks with an additional dash of salt and saute for 2-3 minutes or until the leeks just begin to soften.
- Add the asparagus, vegetable broth, and a 1/2 tsp of salt.
- Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes or until the asparagus is tender.
- With an immersion blender or working in batches in a blender, puree the ingredients adding 1/2 cup of arugula to be pureed with the mixture as well.
- Return the puree to the dutch oven adding 1 cup of cream. Simmer for an additional 5 minutes.
- Garnish with fresh mint and feta cheese.
Nice recipe, I will try it next weekend, Thanks Diana