Asparagus Soup! And More.

Dear Folks,

Our asparagus are coming in and I decided I NEEDED to make an asparagus cheese soup with great tasting things from the garden. 

Asparagus, I'itoi Onions, edible flowers for garnish (Stock, Johnny Jump-Ups and Rosemary) and Limequat).

This recipe (below) is a spin on the broccoli/cheese soup I made back in January 


Do you like Ratatouille?

Close up of the squash in its protection "hat".

I do and so I decided to create a Ratatouille Garden of tomato, squash, eggplant and sweet pepper.  These are young yet, so it will be a while before I can harvest but I'm looking forward to making this dish or variations of it.  I started all the seeds back in December/January in my little greenhouse and it is time to get everything in the ground.  As I usually do, each seedling is protected by a 'chicken wire hat' to keep the critters from lunching on my lunch! See my youtube videos on chicken wire hats here.

When we got a sprinkle of rain last week, I noticed this droplet on one of my Nasturtium leaves. I see this during the season when these great edible and useful (they ward off pest bugs) are growing lushly in the garden.  I am always fascinated by how the leaf holds the drop and the magnification of the center whorl of the leaf.

I ordered some new Sweet Potato ("Pumpkin Yam") slips from Baker Creek and they arrived the other day.  I have been growing the purple "Molokai" and decided I needed another color.  This new one is a very old variety dating from 1868 with a bright orange color.  Looking forward to having a purple and orange feast of delicious tubers in the fall.  "Yam" by the way, is a misnomer - sweet potatoes are not yams which are a very different vegetable.  Commercial producers way-back-when decided the name "yam" helped distinguish their sweet potato from 'others.'

In my last post I showed a picture of a pot filled with growing cilantro, dill and chervil.  I did harvest a bunch of each and set up for drying in both the refrigerator and in the sun.  All the sun dried herbs are nicely stored now in mason jars in the pantry.  This cilantro will take longer in the refrigerator, but will retain more color and flavor due to the constant moisture removal of our modern refrigerators.

 
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Don't worry soup recipe next.

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Asparagus, Potato & Cheese Soup

I love this recipe!  It uses potato for both flavor and thickening.  Recipe makes 2 servings.

2 tablespoons of avocado oil
1 bunch of asparagus
1 potato
4 ounces white cheddar cheese
handful of I'iotoi Onion tops
2 cups of water
salt and cracked black pepper
limequat
Garnish:  Stock, Johnny Jump-Ups and Rosemary flowers for garnish

An emersion blender works best for this, or you can use a counter blender working in batches and return to the pot to continue cooking.

Heat oven to 450, prepare a pan with aluminum foil.

Cut asparagus into 1 inch pieces (any tasty vegetable will work too)
Clean and cut potato into about 1 inch chunks - I leave peels on
Snipped onion tops
Shred or cube cheese and set aside
Optional:  Cut up sugar pea for garnish into 1/2 inch pieces, set aside
Edible flowers for garnish

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a medium size pot.

Spread asparagus in pan, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of oil over, season with some salt and cracked black pepper, stir and roast for 5 minutes.

While the broccoli is roasting add onion to hot oil in pot, stir and reduce heat and cook for about 5 minutes more, stirring as needed.

Add water and potatoes to pot bring to a boil, add a bit of salt, cover and cook at a low boil.

Stir asparagus and roast for 5 minutes more.  When the asparagus is finished add to pot, keep at a low boil, cover and cook until all are tender - about 7 minutes.

Using the emersion blender puree.  I like to leave some chunks in the soup.

Add cheese to melt, stirring into the soup to combine.

Serve with garnish.  Squeeze a bit of lime juice over each bowl.  Enjoy!



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Have a great day in the garden and kitchen!


-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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