Extra green Asparagus Soup

Asparagus are the spring vegetable by excellence, although with globalization it became an all year long available veggie. A favorite of many, like myself, this long green vegetable is simply irresistible. This soup is an onctuous one, as long as you don’t add too much broth, or water to it. There is absolutely not thickeners; no potatoes, no eggs, no starch, it’s simply plenty of asparagus. I’ve used a chicken broth with it, but it could simply be water or vegetable broth and it would be still as delicious.  I like to play with texture when I create a dish, so for this one I had a touch of slightly cooked and crunchy cured ham to accompany. I’ve used it timidly and it’s totally optional of course, but the slightly cooked cured ham with this soup is adding a whole new texture and welcomes salthy bite to the smooth green soup.
A green soup like this one needs to keep the vivid green color… That means, you shouldn’t overcook your vegetable… Meaning for this particular veggie, usually 5 minutes is the max…always depends on the thickest of your asparagus. In this particular recipe, you’ll need to softens the leeks and onion before adding the asparagus in the end. When the asparagus is tender after those 5 minutes, just add the cream right away and blend, then it will slow down the coccion of your asparagus, help keep the soup greener.

Don’t forget to keep a few extra pieces of asparagus for extra crunch and decoration.

So let’s make this vivid green soup!

Asparagus soup

Makes 6 portions

Ingredients

• 900g (3 packs) of green asparagus
• 700ml of chicken broth or water
• 2 leeks thinly sliced
• 1/2 onion thinly sliced
• 200ml of cream
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1-2 slices of cured ham (prosciutto, serrano)
• nutmeg
• salt, pepper

Directions

1. Soften the leeks and onion in butter, at medium high heat
2. Add the broth and simmer for another 10 minutes
3. Cut the bottom part of the asparagus and cut into small pieces of 2 cm (1 inch), *keep some tips for decoration
4. Add the decoration tip to the soup about 3 minutes and take them out and rinse in cold water about 30 sec to set the color (keep the green vivid) Reserve
5. Add all the asparagus and cook for 5 minutes or until soft (cover the pot, at first,to bring the asparagus to boil faster)
6. Stop the coccion
7. Add the cream
8. Blend (I use an immersion blender)
9. Add a topping of few asparagus tips and slightly cooked cured ham.

Enjoy on a spring night!