I was in the mood for a very creamy soup so I put together this velvety mix of tender asparagus, potato, avocado and a dollop of sour cream.
This was a wondrously silky soup and it can easily be made dairy free by trading out the butter
for all olive oil and exchanging the sour cream dollop with extra avocado! The
soup would be vegan with these changes as well as choosing vegetable broth.
On the other hand, I think this soup could be made without
the avocado if you add extra sour cream. This is a really versatile recipe and
you could change it around easily to suite your needs!
Creamy Asparagus Soup with Avocado
3 TBSP butter, OR 3 TBSP olive oil OR 1 ½ TBSP each
1 small onion, white or sweet, diced
1 large or 2 small potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 bunch asparagus, washed with tough end snapped off
½ -1 tsp lemon pepper
1 tsp ginger paste, optional
3 TBSP butter, OR 3 TBSP olive oil OR 1 ½ TBSP each
1 small onion, white or sweet, diced
1 large or 2 small potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 bunch asparagus, washed with tough end snapped off
1-2 clove garlic
Salt and pepper to taste, I used
about a tsp of salt and a few grinds of pepper½ -1 tsp lemon pepper
1 tsp ginger paste, optional
½ tsp garlic powder
4 cups chicken or vegetable
broth
1 small avocado
1/3 cup sour cream Optional, may
skip and add another small avocado
In a large deep pot, heat butter
or oil on medium low heat. Add onion and
cook for 4 minutes.
Then add potatoes and while the potatoes
and onion cook for eight minutes or so, cut the asparagus into 1 inch pieces reserving
the tender tips to add later.
Add asparagus, except reserved
tip pieces to the pot. Add garlic, spices and seasoning g. Cook stirring
occasionally for a few more minutes then add broth.
Simmer for about 30 minutes or until
all of the vegetables are very tender. This will probably be
longer than you would normally cook vegetables and it may make you nervous but
they need to be soft to puree completely to a silky consistency.
Remove soup from the heat and add
avocado and sour cream, if you are using it.
Next you will let the soup cool
a bit so you can puree it.
While you are cooling soup you
can quickly steam the asparagus tips to tender crispness or you can wait and
add them to the soup after it is pureed and cook them right in the soup. If you
choose to steam them separately it will mean another pan to wash but you have
more control over cooking it. But it would be fine to heat in the soup at a low
temperature after it is pureed.
To puree, you may use a blender,
which will probably yield the silkiest soup or a hand held immersion blender
which is less clean up and can do a good job.
Either way let the soup cool before blending. If using a blender, I let
it cool a bit longer and don’t overfill your blender.
Blend soup until silky and
smooth. Return soup to the pan and heat up on low. Add asparagus pieces. Enjoy
your creamy soup!