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Wednesday, April 2, 2008

White Asparagus, Stem Side Up



I confess, I erred during my first white asparagus post when I said a sequel would appear in the next post... I trust that you will forgive me, though, because the post that did appear next was a Daring Bakers challange... and all other endeavors should halt for Daring Bakers delicacies, shouldn't they? Plus, the white asparagus are returning now in the next next post...


Spring is emerging with full effort here in the southland, and, even though I'm probably not allowed to call our minimal brushes with snow a hardship (4 snowfalls! One with 6 whole inches!), I am completely and utterly carried away with spring enthusiasm. In the past week, Zach and I have taken down 6 trees in the backyard (going through 2 chainsaws in the process), created a giant woodpile in the front yard while lamenting that we no longer owned a pickup truck (essentially moving the trees from the back yard to the front yard, althought this was not our initial intention), and, glories of glories, planted 14 new trees and countless flowers. Inside the kitchen, the local produce market has suddenly and magically bestowed upon us a bounty of freshness...

Hence, White Asparagus. Need I say more? Can you blame me, as I carefully removed the tough, woody stems from the tender shoots that were about to grace our salad, for being unable to relegate any part of this glorious vegetable (yes, I'll admit, I tend to loose control of my adjectives when asparagus enter the picture) to the wastebin?

One of my favorite kitchen tips is courtesy of my "second Mom's" own mother - a practical, resourceful farm woman who is now in her 80s and still lives in the farmhouse she heats solely with wood every winter. Her solution for asparagus stems: use them to make a deeply flavorful broth for cream of asparagus soup, which also cooks them to a surprisingly melting, easily pureed tenderness...



Cream of White Asparagus Soup

2 T butter
1 onion, chopped
Stems from a 1 lb. bunch of asparagus
Salt and pepper to taste
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup 2% milk
Chives

~ In a large soup pot over medium heat, saute the onion in the butter until soft and translucent.
~ Add the asparagus stems, salt and pepper to taste, and vegetable broth.
~ Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the asparagus stems are tender - approx. 1 hour.
~ Transfer the asparagus stems (and a little bit of broth) from the soup pot to a food processor, and puree thoroughly (remembering to leave a bit of the top open so the food processor doesn't explode from the steam...)
~ Return the asparagus puree to the soup.
~ Stir in the milk, add more salt and pepper as desired, and gently reheat until warm.
~ Serve garnished with chives!

*For a positively scrumptious VV (Vegan Version!) all you need to do is replace the butter with vegan margarine, and use vanilla soymilk (yep, vanilla!) instead of the milk!

5 comments:

  1. You are whole-heartedly forgiven for postponing your next 'next' post! :) It was worth our waiting!!

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  2. Thanks so much for remembering us vegans with a vegan version :o). You rock!

    I've never heard of white asparagus, but it sounds quite intriguing!

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  3. Ooooo I totally want some of this beautiful soup! I love your blog all the way and find it a GREAT resource when I'm hungry with no recipes to try! Thanks girl! Have a lovely Sunday :)

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  4. Awww, Anya, thank you so much!

    ChocolateCoveredVegan, You're very welcome! Of course! Vegans rock!

    Simple And Divine, thank you so much for visiting, and for your lovely comment! I'm so thrilled that you're enjoying the blog!

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  5. Hey guys!
    What will be the sincerely White Asparagus Asparagus is how many classes there but I'm interested and I like the iformacion and really want to know more about the issue that published here in this nice blog thanks.

    ReplyDelete