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One of my favourite cookery books is The Soup Bible and I’ve made, or adapted several of the recipes in it over the last few years. The book has sections on Light and Refreshing Soups, Rich and Creamy Soups, Winter Warming Soups, Hearty Lunch & supper Soups, On-Pot-Meal Soups and Special Occasion Soups. There are recipes from all round the world.
This week I had some asparagus in the fridge that had been there a few days – still within the use by date – so I thought I’d do something different with it. It seemed a shame to chop asparagus up and make soup with it but as it was a few days old I did just that. And it was absolutely delicious.
To make it I chose the Asparagus Soup with Crab recipe in the Special Occasion Soups section of The Soup Bible and made it without the crab meat. It was really easy and kept the pure taste of the asparagus! This is my adaptation:
Serves 6 – 8
- 1.5 kg of fresh asparagus
- 25 g butter
- 1.5 litres of chicken stock
- 2 tbs flour
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Trim the woody ends from the bottom of the asparagus spears and cut into 2.5cm pieces.
- Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over a medium-high heat, add the asparagus and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently until it is bright green, not browned.
- Add the flour and stir. Then add the stock and bring to the boil, then simmer for a few minutes until the asparagus is tender, but still crisp.
- Season and cook for about 15 minutes until the asparagus is tender.
- Puree in a blender or food processor.
- Add the asparagus tips and serve with crusty bread.
If you want to do it like the recipe you need to thicken it with cornflour mixed with a little water (not the plain flour I used) after it has simmered and add half a cup of whipping cream and 6 -7 oz of white crab meat. I didn’t have the cream or the crab and it delicious without them.
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