So I tried my hand at Asparagus Soup and thought I’d share the recipe since it was very good.  I realize you probably can’t get the white variety, but I think it would work just fine on the green variety.  Even those that didn’t like Asparagus liked the soup.

Here’s the German recipe translated into English for you.  If you’re curious, the website is: http://www.theofel.de/plog-archives/2006/06/spargelsuppe-wm-rezept-fuer-deutschland.html

Ingredients

4 people

• 500 g Asparagus (17 ounces – about 12 stocks)
• 750 ml Wasser (3 cups)
• 50 g Butter (about 1/4 stick)
• 40 g Flour (gluten free flour is also okay) (1.4 ounces)
• 3 Tbsp White Wine
• 250 ml  Heavy Cream (1 cup)
• 1 tsp Sugar
• Juice from one lemon
• Nutmeg
• Salt and white pepper

Zubereitung

1. Wash the asparagus with cold water.  With a veggie peeler, peel the asparagus on all sides starting from the top down.  Cut the asparagus in 1 inch pieces.
2. Bring the 3 cups of water to a boil in a pot.  Boil the aspargus for 20 mins.  Then puree the soup with a handheld mixer or food processor.  (If using a food processor, pour the soup back into the pot).  Turn the stove down to low.
3. In a second pot, melt the butter.  Add the flour and mix for about 2 minutes until smooth.  Add the flour/butter mixture to the pureed asparagus and stir until smooth.  Let cook for about 6 mins.   Add the white wine and heavy cream and stir.  Keep the stove on low so it doesn’t boil again.
4. Add the lemon juice and sugar.  Season with salt, white pepper, and nutmeg to taste (it took a lot of salt, so don’t be afraid to keep salting until it tastes just right).
5. Serve warm.

That’s all there is to it!  Enjoy!

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Once you have your pumpkin, cut off the stem on the top and bottom and take a knife and slowly rock it into the pumpkin to cut it in half (like you would cut a watermelon).  It’s hard work so find a friend to do it for you (or a husband).  Once you’ve cut it in half, dig out the seeds with a spoon. Now lay the inside of the pumpkin face down and slice each half in half.  Now you have 4 quarters of a pumpkin (yes, I was a math minor).  Cut each quarter one more time in half.  So now you have (drumroll please), 8 pieces of pumpkin!

Now, slice the pieces of pumpkin into smaller chunks until your hand is too tired to continue.  If you’re observant, you’ll notice that we did not remove the peel of the pumpkin.  That’s because you can eat it and it’s actually the best part for you. If you’ve choosen another type of pumpkin, I can’t vouch for it’s edibility so check before you try it.

Now, we’re ready to start on the soup.  You’ll need:

Onion (diced)
Butter
Pumpkin (see the above paragraphs)
Water
Vegetable Bouillon
Dry Sherry (1/2 cup)
Salt & Pepper
Half and Half (1/4 cup)
Nutmeg
Parsley
Pumpkin Seed Oil (optional)

• Saute the onion in butter until the onion is transparent.
• Add the pumpkin and cook for about 5 minutes.

• Add 1/2 cup Sherry and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Heat 20oz of water and add 2 Tbsp Vegetable Bouillon – add it to the soup (the amount of water you add will depend on how much pumpkin you have.  If it’s too thick at the end, you can add more water.  So when in doubt, start with less water).
• Let this mixture cook until the pumpkin is soft (about 10 minutes).
• Now take a handheld puree mixer and puree the soup (if you don’t have one, you can use a food processor instead – it’s just more of a pain).
• Now add 1/4 cup Half and Half (or more if you’d like it to be extra creamy)
• Now comes the experiment.  Add salt, pepper, nutmeg and parsley until it tastes just right to you.  This is a preference thing…
• Finally, add a Tbsp of Pumpkin seed oil to the soup and mix it well.

That’s about it.  This should make enough for 5 people.  Pumpkin soup is very filling so beware!

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