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I’m so excited about this spur-of-the-moment recipe! Mostly because my two youngest daughters hold no fondness for steamed asparagus, but both requested seconds of this deliciously healthy soup!
Do you ever start making a meal with no ideas on what you’re actually going to end up with? I did this today at lunchtime. When staring into my pantry netted no appetizing ideas, I removed a package of asparagus from the freezer and started some water boiling in a saucepan. We’re out of noodles and I didn’t feel like making any, and I wasn’t much in the mood for sandwiches either…so as I stood there watching the asparagus steam, I decided to try–for the first time ever–my hand at cream of asparagus soup!
Here’s what I did, because it’s super easy and I’m sure glad I’ve found a way to get asparagus into my two youngest!
Mary’s Cream of Asparagus Soup
- 6 oz (half of a 12 oz pkg) frozen asparagus spears (or the fresh equivalent), steamed till tender (save the cooking water)
- chicken bouillon to fix 2-3 cups broth (or use prepared broth)
- one minced clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced onion
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar or Co-Jack cheese
- 3-4 Tablespoons Great White Northern Bean flour
Remove steamed asparagus from saucepan and puree it till smooth, or use a food chopper to chop it fine. Add 2-3 cups water to the “asparagus water” and bring it to a boil, adding bouillon to dissolve, or prepared chicken broth. Add minced garlic and onion, and whisk in 3-4 TB bean flour till dissolved. Return pureed asparagus to pot and add milk and cheese. Stir and cook for 3-5 minutes, until soup has thickened and cheese has melted. Eat your hearts out.
If you don’t have bean flour, you could just thicken it with flour by removing 3/4 cup of the soup broth to a separate bowl and whisking in 2-3 TB flour till blended then adding it to the soup again…but the bean flour works marvelously and is so much healthier for your family!
Mmm! Wish we’d had leftovers. Oh–this recipe makes five big bowls full.
Great recipe, once I tried the same soup and I do like it.
Thanks, Nicole! I’m sure my mom probably fixed it for us when I was a child…but I’d forgotten about it! So glad to have rediscovered it! Am thinking about making it again for lunch today! 😉
Asparagus Soup. My memory is weak but as much as asparagus soup (cream of) meant to me when I was a child, I’m sure I must have fixed it when you kids were growing up. The time and place when I first tasted it are fixed in my memory…I was probably 8-10 years old; I had one of the ever-present contagious childhood diseases and had to stay home from school. Now, whenever one of us was sick, Mom treated us like royalty. My Dad was a meat and potatoes man so she never fixed exotic things like cream of asparagus soup for him, but when she wanted to ‘make us feel better’ she made all kinds of things…good for you things. We had our own asparagus patch and it was producing so it must have been spring. It was SO good. Another time it was creamed asparagus on toast. I’m not that exotic these days,. We both love asparagus so we eat a lot in spring and freeze what’s left. Thanks for bringing back a lot of wonderful memories, honey.
OH, now I remember creamed asparagus on toast…mmm…I’m going to have to start an asparagus patch. That settles it. 😉
I remember you treating us like royalty when we were sick too. I was so spoiled! Still am. There’s nothing like you for a mom! And I still think you’re plenty exotic! We LOVED those enchiladas, by the way!
Asparagus is the “firstfruits” from our gardens every year, since it is the first thing that’s available to harvest in early spring. We have a purple variety of asparagus that is extra large and extra sweet – unfortunately it turns green when it steamed or cooked and doesn’t retain the gorgeous coloring, but the flavor is “oh-so-nice.”
One of our asparagus beds is about 25 years old, the other two 100′ rows are recent additions over the past few years. We never have enough to meet the demand.
I once saw an old asparagus patch in a backyard in a small town that was about 200 ft. long and probably 5-6 ft. wide that I would guesstimate to be 100 years old. During harvest time it could keep the whole town fed.
Wild asparagus grows in the ditches and along abandoned meadows in these parts as well.
So this recipe is timely to prepare us for the upcoming asparagus season! The first asparagus of the season is the bellwether of spring garden veggies.
Mmmm! It does sound yummy, John! I love that last line in your first comment, “The first asparagus of the season is the bellwether of spring garden veggies.” I’m getting impatient! 😉 Thanks for explaining how to plant asparagus and how to deal with the grasses trying to take it over.
A question for Farmer John. Do you go to a lot of trouble tostart an asparagus bed? And also, do you have any ideas on ridding an existing bed of grass and brome?
We generally dig a flat bottom trench about a spade width wide and about a foot deep, then put compost and/or fertile topsoil in a ridge running down the center and bottom of the trench. This ridge should rise about 7-8 inches from the bottom of the trench to the peak of the ridge. The dormant asparagus roots are then placed about 10-12 inches apart atop the ridge, spreading the roots out over and trailing down the sides of the center ridge. Then we refill with trench with the previously removed soil (removing any grasses), so that the tops of the asparagus plants are 3-4 inches under the surface. When finished the newly planted row will have a slightly rounded ridge rising just above the soil level on either side of it. Water well, then don’t cut or harvest any plants the first year, and very sparingly the second year. You can plant asparagus in early spring (now) or in the fall.
Grasses are always a problem. You have several options. On a newly planted bed, you can use lawn edging on either side of the row to prevent grasses from encroaching, or you may till very shallowly in February – the top couple of inches, before the sprouts emerge. The old standard practice that requires quite a bit of caution is pouring salt along and either side of the row. Asparagus seems to not mind a bit of salt. I would use sea salt or Redmond brand Real mineral salt if you opt to go this way – but don’t get it too heavy or you’ll kill everything. You can undercut the sod with a machete or corn knife in early spring and replace with top soil – but it’s tedious work. But then, gardeners and Christians always do their best work on their knees. So if you contemplate planting asparagus, make out your prayer list, and do both at the same time.
Bellwether: “a male sheep with a bell around its neck that leads the whole flock out to pasture.” You always know where the others are by the sound of the bell – they are coming along right behind him.
Oh!! Picturesque…I knew it had to be…your sentence held such poignancy! Even though I had no idea what a bellwether was! 😉
Sounds yummy, it’s almost lunch time (I always eat so early) and I’m hungry!
I bet it’s warmer where you are than it is here! Definitely soup weather for us! Hope you get a filling lunch!