Green and White Asparagus Soup

Seasonally inappropriate recipes?  Why yes, I haz some.

(Also lets just talk about how this exists: Asparagus Royalty.  Oh Michigan… how I love you.  These are my roots.)

This recipe, Green and White Asparagus Soup, is inspired from a trip that Dave and I took recently to Copenhagen, Denmark.  I was just so excited about it I’m going to share it right now, acutely aware that asparagus is a springtime food.  But lets be real, you can get pretty decent asparagus in the summer too.  So no judging!Being the foodie that I am, I always insist that when we travel we basically plan the trip around our meals.  It’s probably pretty ridiculous and most people would be completely intolerant of this behavior, but seriously, for me, the real fun of traveling is to truly experience the place you’re in, and feel for a moment like you’re a part of the pulse of the city’s life.  You can’t get this by just going to tourist traps (although I do appreciate a good museum).  But seriously… I want to know the real side to the place I’m in.

Hence food.Food is the essence of a culture and way of life.  And the foodie culture in Copenhagen is thriving.  They have the highest percentage of Michelin star restaurants in the entire world (not that we went to any of them because, you know, money), but when you were there you could just feel the way the people of Copenhagen appreciate food.  And it’s all about local, natural, organics.  And even at the non Michelin restaurants there was a beautiful “haute-dining” feel to the meals, with very close attention to detail and carefully constructed plates.

One of our favorite places in Copenhagen was Torvehallerne, a bustling marketplace, partially open- air, and partially covered (it gets damn cold there), and selling everything from the most beautiful fresh produce your eyes ever did see, to cheese, charcuterie, smorrebrod, and hipster coffee.  And of course, Torvehallerne is where I tasted the most amazing Asparagus soup.

That I dreamt about until I got home and decided to re-create it for myself.This apsaragus soup is slightly different than asparagus soup I had ever had before.  First of all, it’s made using a mix of white and green asparagus.  We have easy access to white asparagus at our grocery store in San Diego, but if you do not, substituting all green asparagus would work just fine too.  It doesn’t really affect the flavor, white asparagus just makes it a little more exotic and interesting.  Trivia: white asparagus is essentially green asparagus, just grown with light deprivation hence no chlorophyll production.  Might be a little milder in taste too, but nothing that dramatically alters the recipe. The texture of the soup is silky and brothy.  I’ve had some asparagus soup in the past that doesn’t call for straining the apsaragus pulp, which in my opinion, is the equivalent of eating baby food puree as a meal.  Do not want.  Also, at Torvehallerne they used some unique little herb in their soup to give the it a subtle lemony kick.  I couldn’t figure out what the herb was called (it kind of looked like a large clover?) and also didn’t know where to acquire it, so I just substituted lemon juice.  It tastes great.

And the chive garnish. Do it.  It’s not just for decor, it adds flavor.  Highly recommended.

Green and White Asparagus Soup

Adapted from Bon Appetit

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

• ½ stick butter
• 1 lb white asparagus
• 1 lb green asparagus
• 6 shallots diced
• 32 oz vegetable stock
• 1 cup water
• Salt and pepper
• Juice of 1/2-1 lemon to taste
• ¼ cup crème fraiche
• Minced chives for garnish

Instructions

 

• Melt butter in a stockpot over medium heat. Add shallots and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 7-8 minutes or until softened. Add asparagus and saute for additional 1 minute.
• Add vegetable stock and water. Bring to a boil. Boil mixture for 5 minutes or until asparagus is tender and easily pierced with a fork. Turn off the heat.
• Remove about 1 cup of the cooked asparagus from the broth and set aside.
• Puree the rest of the asparagus mixture in your blender (advise doing in batches so you do not over-fill the blender).
• Return the soup to the pan, straining the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Use a spatula to assist this process. Discard the asparagus solids.
• Turn heat to medium. Whisk in 1/2 lemon juice and crème fraiche. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper as needed. Add more lemon juice if desired, to taste.
• Return reserved asparagus to the soup.
• Garnish bowls of soup with small drizzle of crème fraiche and chives.