Okay, I will admit, the name is a littttttttle bit scary, especially if you've never had a cold soup before. Well let me tell you the story on how it became a creation of ours, and why you should give it a shot. In culinary school, we get a farm to table vegetable to use everyday. For the first two weeks, everyday, our vegetable was asparagus. Don't get me wrong, asparagus is fabulous, but not when you've eaten it every different way, everyday for two weeks....it gets old. So one day, one of the teams made a hot asparagus soup, and it was such a wonderful change. So if the cold soup thing freaks you out, you can eat it hot, just omit the cucumbers. But anyways, a few days later we were all sick of asparagus and it was about 90 degrees out, so Kathryn and I decided we were going to make a chilled soup to cool us down before we ate our hot dinners. It was a total hit and almost everyone in our class said they enjoyed it much more cold than hot. One more thing that makes this soup amazing, it doesn't take all day to simmer k and you can practically forget about it while it cooks!
SHOUT OUT TO KATHRYN AND HER AMAZING JOB HELPING ME CREATE THIS SOUP!! :)
Ingredients:
2 T oil
2 bundles of asparagus, washed and trimmed**
2 leeks, cleaned and chopped (you can use an onion if you don't have leeks)
4 stalks of celery, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf
3 stems of fresh thyme
1 cup white wine
3 cups chicken stock
3 cups spinach
1/2 bundle of parsley
2 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
2 cups cream
3 T butter
Directions:
Get all of your veggies chopped and ready to go. In a soup pot, over medium heat, add oil. Once the oil is hot, saute leeks, celery, bay leaf, and thyme, cook for about 5 minutes. Once the leeks and celery are translucent, add garlic just until you can begin to smell it. Add wine and deglaze the pot. Add asparagus and cook until soft. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Add cream, salt, pepper, and reduce until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Prepare a blender and blend the soup in batches, about 2 cups at a time. Add spinach and parsley to each batch, and add salt and pepper if necessary. Add the cucumber to the last batch. Pour into flat, metal cake pans, and place over ice to start the cooling process more quickly. Once the soup has began to get cold, it can be poured into a suitable container and placed in the fridge. Chill until the desired temperature is reached.
TIP: This soup is even better the next day and is a great recipe to make ahead of time and take somewhere as an appetizer.
**When cleaning your asparagus, grab a stalk at the tip and a the root. Bring your hands together until the asparagus spear snaps. Where it snaps is where all of the asparagus should be trimmed at. The tough, fibrous ends should be discarded.
Parmesan Frico Garnish:
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment, or use a Silpat. Sprinkle parmesan cheese in a circle on either the parchment paper or Silpat, season with salt and pepper. Arrange the parmesan circles about 1 inch apart. Place in the oven for about 8 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool, snack on some, then garnish the soup.
Thank you for reading and enjoy these recipes!
