Chilled Asparagus Soup
This is an ideal soup for a late spring meal when fresh asparagus are at their best.
This is an ideal soup for a late spring meal when fresh asparagus are at their best.
- 1/2 cup onions chopped
- 1/2 cup celery chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 pounds asparagus washed, and the tough ends removed
- 1 cup leeks washed carefully and chopped (white only)
- 1 large baking potatoes i use a baking potato, about ? lb. peeled and cubed
- 3 1/2 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 cup single cream
- 1 pinch sea salt to taste
- 1 pinch ground white pepper to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika to garnish
- 1/4 cup whipping cream whipped to garnish
- Carbohydrate 17.6868684998947 g
- Cholesterol 27.21625 mg
- Fat 9.662921 g
- Fiber 2.60921495605294 g
- Protein 7.11984324999537 g
- Saturated Fat 5.28971355 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (312g)
- Sodium 718.060924999988 mg
- Sugar 15.0776535438418 g
- Trans Fat 0.651196325000002 g
- Calories 181 calories
Step-by-step
- Snap off the asparagus tips and set the stalks aside.
- Melt the butter in a deep pan with a cover.
- Add the 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 the 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 the stalks and set the resulting stock to one side.
- In a food processor, puree the softened vegetables and add to the asparagus stock.
- Season with the lemon juice, salt, white pepper and paprika, if desired.
- Allow to cool and refrigerate.
- Stir in the single cream and serve, garnished with a dollop of whipped cream, or Creme Fraiche and a sprinkling of paprika, if desired.
Operating with a single two-quart saucepan and an immersion blender requires careful sequencing to manage volume constraints without splattering hot liquid across counters. When sweating the leeks, onions, celery, and baking potato in butter, keeping the heat at the lowest possible setting prevents unwanted browning that would muddy the soup's pale green hue. This gentle sweating process takes a full twenty minutes or more, drawing out internal moisture until the potatoes break down under pressure from a wooden spoon.
Separately boiling the tough asparagus stalks in chicken stock for thirty minutes extracts lingering vegetal flavors that would otherwise end up in the trash can. Discarding those fibrous woody remnants leaves behind an infused stock that forms the primary liquid base. Pureeing the softened root vegetables and tips in a food processor creates a dense paste before incorporation into this strained stock.
Swapping heavy cream for single cream alters the final emulsion, reducing the fat content from roughly thirty percent down to about twenty percent, which changes how the liquid coats the back of a spoon. Using milk instead will cause the soup to separate when chilled because lower fat dairy lacks the structural solids needed to hold an emulsion at four degrees Celsius. Stirring the single cream in only after the vegetable base has completely cooled preserves its fresh dairy flavor without curdling.
Overcooking the asparagus tips during the initial sweat remains the primary pitfall, turning the bright spring vegetables into a drab khaki puree. Maintaining strict control over the burner ensures the vibrant color survives the transition from stove to refrigerator.
