Cream of Asparagus Soup is one of those soups that everyone wants to master, but which can be a little tricky. Because asparagus has a subtle flavour, bringing that out in a soup without drowning it or overpowering it, is quite tricky. So the choice of veg is crucial, as they need to boost and augment the asparagus.
Roasting the asparagus gently helps bring out some of the flavour, and adding in peas and celery, helps bolster the flavour. The end result is a satisfyingly strong asparagus flavoured soup that is supported but not dominated by the other flavours.
This soup is of course best made when asparagus is “in season” and nice and cheap – when there’s a glut in fact. Definitely you don’t want to make it when it’s in the supermarkets and flown in from South America! My local has unsprayed veggies, and in the middle of the UK asparagus season has some remarkably reasonably priced asparagus – so that’s exactly when to make this soup. Then you can enjoy delicious, delicate asparagus soup all year round.
Cooked and batch frozen this cream of asparagus soup is a real luxury when the prices of asparagus have gone stratospheric. Simply remove from the freezer, de-frost, re-heat what could be easier. Eaten with a nice piece of wholemeal sourdough, what could be nicer and more nutritious.
Cream of Asparagus Soup
Equipment
- Medium Pan
Ingredients
- 30 Gms Olive oil
- 700 Gms Asparagus – after trimming – so 1kg untrimmed
- 450 Gms Frozen petit pois/garden peas
- 40 Gms garlic chopped/sliced
- 235-250 Gms medium red/yellow onion
- 125 Gms Celery finely chopped
- 1/2 Tsp black pepper.
- 250 ml oat milk unsweetened
- 250 ml soya milk unsweetened
- 500 ml vegetable stock equivalent
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast rounded tbps
- 1 Medium lemon Juiced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C –
- Chop off the bottom 1/5 of the asparagus and discard – chop the remaining length of stalk into 3 and put the tips in one Pyrex oven dish, and the rest into another Pyrex dish.
- Drizzle some olive oil on both lots, and toss to coat evenly with the oil.
- Roast the tips for between 10 and 15 minutes until they are starting to brown, but do the rest of the stalk for around 5 minutes longer. They are tougher and will require a little more roasting. When sufficiently roasted – just enough to soften and bring out the flavour – remove from oven and set aside.
- Heat a large saucepan or pot on a medium heat. Add around a Tbsp oil and add in the red/yellow diced onion, garlic and celery. Cook for 5 minutes or so until translucent and browning slightly.
- Add peas, vegetable stock/(water & stock cube), plant milks and pepper & nutritional yeast.
- Return to boil and add asparagus shortly after.
- Simmer for around 7 minutes – until peas are tender. Remove from heat.
- Add lemon juice, then use a stick blender to thoroughly blend the soup.
- Best eaten with toast or garlic croutons.
