My asparagus soup is unbelievably clean and creamy, but it’s made with no drop of cream. As a substitute, we mix collectively asparagus, potatoes, and a straightforward home made broth that’s mild and aromatic. It’s wholesome, satisfying, and naturally vegetarian!
This asparagus soup recipe screams Spring and is one among my favourite asparagus recipes! It’s mild on energy however has essentially the most scrumptious, vibrant, recent taste. Whereas I like wealthy, cream-based soups, typically I crave one thing a bit lighter. That’s the place this recipe shines. Through the use of potatoes as a substitute of cream, we obtain that very same silky texture with out the additional energy. I exploit the identical trick in our creamy vegetable soup and broccoli cheddar soup!
What’s much more spectacular is that this soup is extremely resourceful! We use the often-discarded elements of the asparagus and leeks (the robust ends and the darkish inexperienced tops) to create a flavorful broth that types the bottom of the soup. It’s a scrumptious technique to reduce waste and maximize style! For extra methods to cook dinner with asparagus see our garlic roasted asparagus or my favourite asparagus omelette.
Key Components
- Asparagus: Search for vibrant inexperienced spears with tightly closed, compact ideas. A touch of purple on the ideas is a welcome signal, too! Keep away from asparagus that seems uninteresting, yellowed, or has open flowering ideas. Give the stalks a delicate squeeze—they need to really feel agency and snap simply when bent. Limp or flexible asparagus is previous its prime.
- Leeks: Consider leeks as candy, mellow onions. We’ll use the white and light-weight inexperienced elements within the soup and the more durable darkish inexperienced tops for our asparagus broth. To wash leeks, trim the basis finish and the darkish inexperienced tops. Then, slice the leek lengthwise and rinse completely beneath operating water to take away any grit between the layers. Try my article about clear leeks for extra ideas!
- Carrot: One carrot provides a contact of sweetness and shade to our broth.
- Garlic: I exploit garlic cloves each for the broth and within the soup itself.
- Potatoes: These are the key to an excellent creamy, silky asparagus soup! We skip the cream altogether and use potatoes, like russet or Yukon Gold, so as to add physique and a silky texture.
- Spinach: Just a few handfuls of child spinach are excellent for including an additional vibrant inexperienced shade and a lift of vitamins to the soup. We add this on the very finish.
- Lemon: I like serving asparagus soup with a squeeze of recent lemon juice on prime. It brightens all the pieces up and makes the flavors style unbelievable.
- Cheese (Non-obligatory): We’ve got used parmesan in our pictures, however a spoonful of ricotta or mascarpone cheese is wonderful.
How one can Make Asparagus Soup
My asparagus soup is an easy two-part course of. First, we’ll make our easy asparagus broth utilizing the elements of asparagus and leek that you just’d usually toss within the trash. Then, we’ll use that easy broth to make our creamy soup.
The broth takes about half-hour and tastes mild and recent. It’s made with the tops of leek, the stems of asparagus, a carrot, garlic cloves, and a bay leaf. Easy!
The soup comes collectively rapidly. Cook dinner the white and light-weight inexperienced elements of a leek in a little bit of oil till delicate, then comply with up with the garlic cloves used to make the broth, potatoes, and asparagus. Then, proper on the finish, when all the pieces is tender, add just a few handfuls of spinach. Mix till clean and serve with a squeeze of lemon and a few cheese (non-compulsory, however scrumptious).
Excellent Asparagus Soup
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This easy asparagus soup is scrumptious, vegetarian, and minimizes waste. As a substitute of utilizing inventory to make the soup, we make a fast asparagus broth utilizing the asparagus and leek trimmings. The broth is delicate and aromatic and is the right technique to make use of trimmings as a substitute of throwing them away.
6 Servings
You Will Want
2 kilos asparagus
1 massive leek
1 medium carrot
2 garlic cloves, gently smashed
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and diced, about 1 pound
3 cups child spinach
Half of a lemon, reduce into wedges
Salt and recent floor black pepper
Parmesan cheese, ricotta, or mascarpone for garnish, non-compulsory
Instructions
- Make Asparagus Broth
1Trim the dry, woody bottoms of the asparagus. To seek out the place to trim, bend the stalks till they naturally snap. Reduce or snap at that time. Save the tops for the soup and add the stems to a big pot.
2Reduce the darkish inexperienced tops from the leek and rinse them effectively to take away any grit. Add these to the pot with the asparagus stems. Rinse the leek’s lighter inexperienced and white elements and set them apart.
3Add the carrot, smashed garlic clove, bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper to the pot.
4Cowl with 9 cups of water and convey to a boil. Scale back the warmth, cowl, and simmer for 25 minutes. Season to style with salt, including just a little at a time till you may style the broth’s flavors with out it being overly salty. Pressure the broth and reserve the garlic cloves.
- Make Asparagus Soup
1Thinly slice the reserved white and light-weight inexperienced elements of the leek.
2Warmth the olive oil in a big soup pot or Dutch oven over medium warmth.
3Add the sliced leeks and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Cook dinner, stirring usually, till softened and aromatic, about 5 minutes.
4Stir within the reserved garlic cloves and cook dinner for yet one more minute. Add the potatoes and 6 cups of the asparagus broth (save the remaining for thinning later). Carry to a boil, then scale back warmth and simmer, coated, till the potatoes are very tender, about 20 minutes.
5In the meantime, reduce the ideas from 12 asparagus spears measuring about 1 ½ inches from the highest. Set these apart for garnish. Roughly chop the remaining asparagus.
6As soon as the potatoes are tender, stir within the chopped asparagus (not the reserved ideas) and simmer till tender-crisp and vibrant inexperienced.
7Take away from the warmth and stir within the spinach till wilted however nonetheless vibrant inexperienced, about 1 minute. Mix the soup till clean utilizing an immersion blender (or an everyday blender in batches).
8Style and season with extra salt and pepper as wanted. If the soup is simply too thick, skinny it with the reserved asparagus broth, 1/4 cup at a time.
9Simply earlier than serving, cook dinner the reserved asparagus ideas in boiling salted water till tender-crisp and vibrant inexperienced (about 3 minutes). Rinse with chilly water to cease the cooking.
10Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the asparagus ideas and cheese (non-compulsory). Serve with a lemon wedge for squeezing excessive.
Adam and Joanne’s Ideas
- Storing: The soup’s vibrant inexperienced shade could uninteresting barely over time, however you may retailer this in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 4 days.
- Mixing the soup: I exploit an immersion blender. In the event you use a stand blender, bear in mind to mix in batches. In case your soup is scorching whereas mixing, you need to take away the lid’s heart insert and canopy it with a kitchen towel whereas mixing, serving to among the steam launch and stopping the lid from popping off (which generally is a huge, scorching mess).
- Leftover broth: Use it in different soups to cook dinner rice or grains or make risotto.
- The diet info supplied under are estimates. We did embody 1 tablespoon of parmesan cheese within the calculations for every serving (there are 6 servings whole). We omitted salt from the calculations since you have to add to your tastes.
Vitamin Per Serving
Energy
149
/
Protein
6g
/
Carbohydrate
20g
/
Dietary Fiber
4g
/
Sugars
3g
/
Complete Fats
6g
/
Saturated Fats
2g
/
Ldl cholesterol
3mg
