Monday, August 3, 2009

It was not Sulfur Soup at all



I enjoy asparagus very much. I like it blanched, plunged into ice water, drained and topped with course salt. I like it roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper and then covered with a few shavings of Parmesan cheese, I like it raw and even steamed with butter. But the idea of asparagus soup always turned me off, I thought that it would taste the the harshness that asparagus has from the sulfur particularly when it is over cooked. I imagined a big bowl of green sulfur soup, after all one much cook the daylights out of the asparagus to make soup out of it.

The other day I looked it the fridge to see what I could put together for dinner and I had a kilo of asparagus, some onions that are in desperate need of being used, cream and some left over Asian chicken stock which was had a light and wonderful garlic ginger taste to it. The only conclusion i could come up with was asparagus soup.

Like almost everything I make I figures I would start with caramelized onion because everything and anything will turn out wonderful with nice sweet onion. I figured I would add some richness by cooking the onions in butter.

I cleaned the asparagus and and chopped it into pieces and added it to the onions just before they browned with a little salt and pepper. I reserved some of the tips of the asparagus and blanched them for pretty photos later.

Once I sauteed the asparagus and ions for a few minutes I added the Asian chicken broth and broth, a bay leaf and a little thyme to it all and brought to a boil and cooked for about 30 minutes, until the asparagus was tender.

Once the asparagus was cooked, I removed the bay leaf and blended the soup (in batches) with my blender until smooth.

I place the soup back on the heat and when it came up to a boil I added a half cup of cream and a squeeze of lime juice. Tested for seasoning, had to add a little more salt and enjoyed.

The soup did not have a touch of sulfur taste to it at all it was rich and creamy and simply one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten.

Ginger Asparagus Soup~

1 kilo Asparagus
6 cups ginger chicken broth (you can make your own or heat up purchased broth and add 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger)
1 medium onion
3 tablespoons butter
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh thyme
1/2 cup cream
Salt & pepper
juice of 1 lime

5 comments:

Jen said...

This looks like a great take on asparagus soup, Shayne.

Ann said...

WOW !thats looks soo yum

Karine said...

Such a great soup! I love the combination of flavors in it :)

Jeff said...

everything good begins with onion I have established. I have been fooling around with onion varieties since the one farmer has a ton and loving every bit of the experiment.

Nicely done and happy it was not sulfur :-)

Anonymous said...

Sounds (and looks) lovely. The ginger is inspired.