Everyone is guilty of making impulse buys at the warehouse club or while grocery shopping. Whether it is a pack of socks, a new cereal to try, or an extra bottle of wine, I’m guilty of occasionally picking up stuff I don’t need. I’ve been much better about this since I downloaded an application for my smart phone to organize my shopping lists by store (Grocery IQ)… but it didn’t stop me from picking up a bunch of asparagus from the fresh foods ‘refrigerated room’. That bag was way too big for just DH and me. Days went by before I even started using it, which is the true test of an impulse buy. But they looked so pretty and spring-like!
Riding on the success of the quinoa salad leftovers (because nothing beats having a good meal in the table in a few minutes), I decided to make soup out of the asparagus to use over several meals in the next couple of days… quick lunches with sandwiches/salads or snacks. I skimmed over a few recipes but decided to trust my gut on this one.
- About 3 pounds of asparagus (the thicker type, trimmed at the point where they snap. Reserve the woodier stems)
- 1/2 head of garlic
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
Place the asparagus and garlic head on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes, flipping them 25 minutes into the process.
The Soup
Combine the following ingredients in a Dutch oven or large saucepan:
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 1 celery rib
- 1 medium yukon gold potato
- Reserved asparagus stems
- 1 vegetable stock bouillion cube and 2 quarts of water or 8 cups vegetable stock.
Bring up to a boil and then simmer while the asparagus roast. After the asparagus and garlic are done roasting, remove the woody stems from the pot and add the roasted asparagus and peeled garlic cloves into the Dutch oven. Allow them to simmer for at least fifteen minutes. Puree the soup with an immersion blender or carefully in a countertop blender, making sure to work in batches.
Strain the soup before serving if you’d like a smoother consistency, and garnish with your choice of herbs, flavored oils, and/or a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt.
This sounds delicious and so healthy! I’m bookmarking this recipe b/c I’ve made the same impulse buy and couldn’t use up that huge bag of asparagus!
Now I know what to do with it! Beautiful soup!
Love asparagus soup! Looks great!
This is perfect! It’s that time of year when the asparagus gets really cheap here and I’m always buying loads of it!! Your roasted soup sounds deicious- I love roasted garlic!! This is definitely on the week’s lunch list, thanks!
Adriana-What an awesome asparagus soup. I’ve made cream of asparagus, but have not tried roasted. The problem with roasting the asparagus, would be; that by the time I would get to making the soup, all the asparagus would be devoured.Such a delicious and comforting soup:D
This looks wonderful!
I love asparagus! This soup looks great! I’ll be trying this soon
Oh asaparagus is always a great impulse buy! Especially with it being so cheap right now! Can’t wait to make this soup!
Mmmmm….what a great idea for a plethora of asparagus!