First off, apologies for not posting regularly for a while - there are phases in your life, when the mundane everyday grind takes control of your life so much that you have little time for anything else - even for things that you enjoy doing. The last couple or may be even three weeks was such a period in my life. Hope this doesn’t happen again and thanks a ton for all those folks who dropped a note to check on me. I am really touched. I am back (and hopefully, with a bang :) ).


A dear friend of mine had this soup at a dinner that she was invited to, and she couldn’t stop raving about this; she insisted that I make this and am I glad that I took her word for it and tried this. I wouldn’t call it an easy recipe, but it’s not very complicated either - a time consuming one though.

2.5 pounds fresh asparagus, rinsed
8 cups vegetable stock
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 shallot or a small onion, minced
1 leek (only the white part), minced
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground white pepper

Cut the bottom (woody) ends of the asparagus and keep them separately. An easy way to know how to trim the woody ends off, is to hold each end of the asparagus in one hand and slightly bend it; it will snap right where the woody stem starts (or ends, whichever way you look at it).

Also, cut the top spears and reserve for them for garnish later. Chop the rest of the asparagus to about 1″ long pieces.

Boil the veggie stock (you can substitute with water, in case you don’t have the stock) with the woody ends for about 30-40 mins. Discard the ends and blanch the spears in the stock.

Meanwhile, saute onion and leek with butter till the onions are almost translucent. Add garlic, chopped asparagus, salt and pepper and cook for couple of minutes. Add the boiled veggie stock, simmer for about 15-20 minutes and blend to a puree.

Garnish with asparagus spears and serve it with garlic bread.

Notes:

  1. Add cream for a richer soup. After pureeing, add cream and cook in medium heat till the soup warms up. Add some Parmesan cheese just before serving as a garnish.
  2. If you are making the soup in advance, do not add cream when you store it in the fridge. Right before you are serving, add the cream and warm it up on stove-top.
  3. I think this can be used as a base for making other soups like potato-leek, broccoli or cauliflower. I am planning to get adventurous :)