Soup

Jon and I receive a basket of vegetables and fruits from the local farmer's market every other week. They're delivered by Auntie Em's, and everything we get from them is fabulous. Lately I though, I haven't been cooking as much, so I was sad to see the bunch of asparagus I received in our latest basket had gone limp. It still tasted great, so I decided to try my hand at cream of asparagus soup. I love the taste of roasted asparagus, so I made up this recipe:

Cream of Roasted Asparagus Soup
3 celery stalks (chopped)
3 cloves of garlic (pressed)
1 medium onion (chopped)
1 bunch asparagus (~ 1lb) (ends cut off, cut into small chunks)
3 golden potatoes (chopped)
1 can chicken broth
4 C water
3/4 C half and half
2 bouillon cubes
3 T flour
1 T soy sauce
3 T Olive Oil + more for roasting
Salt & Pepper

Brush the asparagus with oil and roast in the oven under a high heat (500 F or on broil). While roasting the asparagus, heat 3 T of oil in soup pot on high and saute the onion and celery until onion begins to brown, stirring occasionally. Add minced or pressed garlic, saute for 30-60 seconds. Bring heat down to medium high. Add flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring to prevent burning or clumping. Add chicken broth, water, and boullion cubes to pot and bring to a boil. Asparagus should be finished roasting at this point. It should be turning golden brown in places and appear slightly shriveled. Once soup is at a boil, add potatoes and half of the asparagus. Bring down to a simmer and cook until potatoes are just tender (~ 10 minutes depending on how big the potato pieces are). Add the remaining asparagus into soup and then add soup to food processor in small batches until soup is thickened to personal preference. Add the cream, soy sauce, and season to taste. Bring to a just under a boil to incorporate the cream.

I tried the soup before cream was added and it was wonderful, so one can forgo the dairy and vegetable stock can replace the chicken stock for a tasty vegetarian/vegan meal.

It was so tasty, I couldn't bear to eat it alone. I wrapped the soup up and brought down to Caltech for a picnic dinner to Jon. Jon has been working many late hours in the lab lately preparing for the upcoming PhD Candidacy exam, so it was nice to have a meal with him last night.