Pan-Roasted Asparagus Soup
INGREDIENTS
1 pound asparagus
~ ½ cup onion, leek, shallot or any allium you have on hand
2 tablespoons butter or extra virgin olive oil
10 fresh tarragon leaves, or 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
3 cups stock of your choice
Salt and pepper
Optional (if you like a thicker soup): 1 potato or a 2-3 tbl white rice
Directions:
Break off bottom part of each asparagus stalk, and discard. Coarsely chop the rest of stalks, leaving 12 or 16 of the flower ends whole. Put butter or oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. A minute later, add onions and saute until soft, but not translucent - about 3-5 minutes. Add asparagus and tarragon, raise heat to high, and cook, stirring occasionally, until nicely browned, about 10 minutes. Remove whole flower ends; set aside.
Add stock and some salt and pepper; bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until asparagus is very tender, about 10 minutes. Cool at least a few minutes.
Ideally, use an immersion blender to puree. If not available, pour soup into a blender, in batches if necessary, and carefully purée. Return to pan, and, over medium-low heat, reheat gently. When soup is hot, adjust seasoning. Put 3 or 4 asparagus flower ends in each of 4 bowls; ladle in soup, and serve. Garnish with cream or olive oil or fennel fronds or thinly sliced radishes!
* if you prefer a thicker soup, you have a few options! You could add in a regular sized potato, chopped into smaller cubes, to the saute pan along with the asparagus or if you don’t want to add another flavor you can add in 2-3 tablespoons of white rice. If using rice, just make sure it gets about 20 minutes to cook through, you may want to par cook it for about 10 and add it to the stock and asparagus mix in step 2.