Asparagus Soup

My intention was to post this yesterday, but it was Taco Tuesday, and after a ride on the Mulholland Fire Road, Stretch and I went to Burbank hotspot Fiesta Taco to chow on some Tacos al Pastor. I think he put it best when he said that tacos were the ultimate pork delivery device.

At any rate, I have been feeling very fall for the last week or so, and apparently I am not alone. In fact, that post was one of the primary inspirations for making this soup. That's right, I even made it vegan–except for the chicken broth, but it was all I had. The other inspirations were leftover celery from the party, and the fact that one of the organic farms had both thick and thin asparagus at the Mar Vista Farmer's Market on Sunday. I also gotta give some props to the good DJ, who was back after a couple weeks' absence...

As you can see, the market provided everything I needed but didn't have on hand. BoW was a bit surprised at my on-the-spot decision to make soup upon seeing these spears, but she has faith in my ability to Google and come up with a recipe based on what I find there.

I will apologize now for being a bit self-indulgent with this one. I enjoy cooking a lot, and I am proud of the fact that I can improvise in the kitchen based on a little experience or research. I rarely ever follow a single recipe, and given that my home cooking is intended to be simple, yet a little sophisticated, I am usually rewarded for combining the best of what I find.

Plus, now I can take pictures and post my bragging to the internets for all to enjoy!

Anyway, while I worked on my mise en place, which mostly consisted of cubing or mincing all of my aromatics and, chopping the dill, zesting the lemon, and reserving the tips of the asparagus before cutting the rest into little pieces, I took the woody ends of the asparagus and boiled them for about 10 minutes. After squeezing them dry, I was left with about 3 cups of "asparagus stock."

Now for cooking. I sweat the aromatics for a couple of minutes in some olive oil with the lemon zest and some salt and white pepper. Then came the taters for about 10 minutes, the asparagus went in for a couple of minutes, then about 1/2 tsp of the dill, 2 cups chicken broth, and my asparagus stock. That came to a boil then simmered for half an hour.

While I waited for that, I dropped the asparagus tips into the soup to cook for a minute or two before retrieving them for later. I also fried the peels from my potatoes in some avocado oil. They came out nice and crispy for garnish later.

BoW brought home some nice, dark, grain bread, and as an accompaniment, I made a little "village salad." Basically, most of southern and eastern Europe would just call it salad, but as Anglo-centrics, we feel that salad must have lettuce. Well, I didn't have any lettuce.

The best part comes next: the immersion blender. It's one of my favorite kitchen tools. I don't get to use it much, so it gives me great satisfaction when I do. After smoothing the soup, adding S/P and some lemon juice to taste, I dished out a couple of bowls and topped with the asparagus tips, the skin chips, and some fresh dill. 

It made about three full servings as a main course. We were very satisfied with it as a light meal, served with bread, wine, and the salad. Sadly, my real camera ran out of juice just as I finished, so the last two pix are iPhone and not quite as nice. If you're really into it, ask for an invite to dinner and I'll make it for you.