Asparagus Soup!

Well, in the end, my previous soup experiment had plenty of flavor, just not the right kind. :-} Daikon turns out to have a rather distinct and strong flavor which neither M nor I were too fond of, at least in this preparation. Without the daikon, the soup was just ok. M didn't really care for it either way. So.....chalk that one up to a vote in the "No" column.

But fear not!!!! I am back at it, this time following recipes again. :-) This time, partially inspired by an excellent lunch at Boudin Bakery in Santa Ana on Sunday, I decided to try making asparagus soup using a recipe from M's new cookbook. It's really very simple, and I admit I was a little dubious for a while. You chop up asparagus (1 lbs) and onion (1/2 c) and heat them in a pan with some chicken broth (1 c). Then, once the asparagus is tender, you puree at least part of the asparagus/onion mixture. With that on hold, you make a roux (2 T butter + 2 T flour) in a sauce pan and add more chicken broth (1 c), salt (2 t) and pepper (dash), stirring constantly until it just begins to boil (that's about the time it starts getting thick). Then, the asparagus puree and whatever asparagus you had not pureed, plus some milk (1 c), some sour cream or yoghurt, (1/2 c - I used sour cream) and some lemon juice (2 t). Voila! Both the prep time and the cooking time are pretty short, and the soup is good! In the end, I think I put a little too much sour cream in, and a few pieces of asparagus were a tad bit crunchy (I prefer it to be completely soft). Next time I might try the yoghurt substitute for sour cream, just because.

It doesn't make the biggest quantity of soup out there, but the whole thing probably cost less than $2.50, with enough for three or maybe four bowls. And did I mention it tastes really good?

My Latest Soup Invention

Ok, so M and I went shopping about a week ago and got some fennel and daikon to try out in our cooking. We also got some carrots and onions, some of which were used in my attempt to repeat the Stoup (not to great success), but some of which still needed to be used. Also left-over from the last soup, some celery. So, we had a fairly large supply of veggies that needed to be used. Thus was born my latest soup invention:

- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot.
- Add 1 and a half chopped medium onions, three chopped medium/large carrots, 1 chopped fennel bulb (plus the stems), and 1 chopped medium daikon.
- Add the following spices:
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon comino cumin seed
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- a pinch of crushed bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic cubes
- fresh ground pepper to taste
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- Cook on high heat for about 5 minutes.
- Remove the cinnamon sticks.
- Add 4 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth), 28 oz diced tomatoes, 1 small can tomato paste, ~3 tablespoons ketchup, 1 and a half cups of dried lentils, and 1 cup of fusilli pasta.
- Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until daikon is tender.

That's the soup, it's cooling a little now, we'll see how it turns out.........

:-)