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Spring is that time of the year I always look forward to visiting the farmer's market more frequently. Unfortunately, this year's spring has been marked with the global lockdown caused as a result of the Covid-19. Because I couldn't visit the farmer's market, I resorted to buying a few vegetables from a grocery shop nearby. Amongst the list of the veggies I purchased was asparagus. Spring marks the return of fresh produce and gives insights as to what to expect for the rest of the year. Since everyone is mandated to stay indoors, I haven't been privileged to go out and make my personal evaluation of this year's fresh produce. Besides, I wonder how farmers are coping during this tough period of our lives.
Although asparagus is available all year-round, spring is usually the best time of the year for this highly nutritious vegetable. Asparagus is mostly harvested between late February to June, but April is the peak month and high season for it. Asparagus usually comes to the end of its season around May ending and June. As a result, I do make good use of this nutritious vegetable once we are in its season. I often eat asparagus the moment we are in its season, predominantly between April to June. I do try to save a couple of asparagus in the freezer before the end of its season though. Believe me, I do not get bored or tired of eating asparagus. It might interest you to know that asparagus spears are a healthy, nutritious and fulfilling addition to assorted dishes. You can use asparagus as part of your main course meal or as your vegetable side-dish. And my favourite way of enjoying this cutie vegetable is via soup. Yes, you heard me right! Asparagus soup is one of those soups, which I can't grow tired of eating. The taste is so distinctive and lovable that you would want to keep eating it all year-round.
So when I purchased my first bunch of asparagus for the year, I knew outrightly that I would be making my asparagus soup. The only thing different this time around is that I used an instant pot and a Vitamix blender to prepare the soup. These two "kitchen best friends" of mine actually took this asparagus soup to the next level for me. I'm not here to promote an instant pot or Vitamix blender but I'm only implying that I enjoy using these two cooking equipment. Yes, these two tools took my instant pot asparagus soup to the next level. Peradventure you are searching for a special and quality asparagus soup recipe, then relax because you have landed on the right page. This absolutely creamy, tasty, delicious and filling soup is way too good to ignore. I decided to keep this asparagus soup recipe pretty simple so that the asparagus can properly display its uniqueness. The first step to making this lovely soup is to get the asparagus ready through cutting and washing. When cutting asparagus, first cut off the hard, woody flat ends of the spears. Afterwards, you can cut your asparagus into your desired sizes and shapes to add a healthy twist to your meals. Remember not to wash your asparagus until you are ready to use them. They quickly get spoilt once they come in contact with water.
Asparagus sautéed with onions in an instant pot, cooked with chicken broth and sour cream until soft, then blended until smooth with a Vitamix high powered blender. This instant pot asparagus soup can't be any better than it is. A brilliant combination of the right ingredients to fully exhibit the beauty of this amazing vegetable in an iconic way. I believe that the addition of the chicken broth was an awesome way of adding enough seasoning at the same time to the soup. The sautéed onions and sour cream added that distinguishing flavour and taste, which most soups require. In fact, the sour cream took the soup trillion steps higher because it added that creamy goodness and taste to the soup. If you don't believe me for my words, try it out for yourself. Once the ingredients (except green pepper & chives) are cooked, allow them to cool down a wee bit before blending all together until smooth/creamy and lunch or dinner is served. And of course, with some slices of banana bread or any crusty bread of your choice. That's just about it.
Once the asparagus has been cooked, allow it to cool down before transferring the entire contents to a blender. I personally dislike blending hot food simply because it is dangerous and can potentially destroy my blender. Although some people care less about this. Blend on a high-speed blender until the asparagus soup is totally smooth and creamy. I used the "Soup option" on my Vitamix blender and allowed the program to complete. This yielded a truly creamy and smooth soup. But if you do not have a high-speed blender, you might have to leave the less powerful blender on for a longer time. Likewise, if you do not have an instant pot, just use your traditional method of cooking. The ingredients and the quantities used in this recipe yielded the right consistency of soup I envisaged. But you are free to tweak the quantity of chicken broth to get the consistency you want. I don't like my soup too thick or watery so I'm satisfied with the outcome of this one. But do feel free to do whatever that you deem right. If you think you want to add more liquid or reduce the liquid, either way will still work I believe. Once the soup is ready, garnish it with some drops of sour cream, slices of green pepper, chives and cooked asparagus tips. They add a bit of energy to the soup! Pull some slices of bread closer to you for dipping and you have a hearty, yummy, healthy and nutritious meal.
Ingredients:
- 1 onion
- 12 chives
- 1kg asparagus
- ½ cup sour cream
- 350ml chicken broth
- 1 unsalted butter stick
- 1 green spicy hot pepper
- 3 banana bread (For serving - Optional)
Instructions:
- Wash and slice the green pepper, chives then set aside.
- Peel, wash and chop the onions.
- Add the asparagus in a bowl, add salt, pour water and wash thoroughly.
- Cut off the dry ends (hard stalks) of the asparagus.
- Line up about 7-10 asparagus spears on a cutting board, align them horizontally to you and chop the spears into small pieces, about 1 inch long.
- Turn on the Sauté program of the instant pot then add the butter.
- Allow the butter to dissolve and slightly heat up.
- Add the onions and allow to sauté for a few minutes.
- Add the asparagus and stir then allow the asparagus to sauté, stir intermittently until slightly done.
- Use a kitchen tong to pick out a few sautéed asparagus green tips and set them aside.
- Now add the chicken broth, sour cream and stir.
- Cook until the asparagus is very tender.
- Turn off the instant pot and allow the asparagus to cool down a bit. You can add the pot into a sink or container of cold water.
- Transfer the contents of the instant pot into a blender and blend until smooth.
- For this recipe, I used a Vitamix blender for the asparagus soup.
- If using a Vitamix blender, select the soup program on the Vitamix blender and allow the program to complete. The friction of the Vitamix blades makes the asparagus soup to be steaming-hot right in the container.
- Once the soup program of the Vitamix blender is complete, pour the asparagus soup into a clean bowl.
- Drizzle some drops of sour cream on top of the asparagus soup.
- Garnish the asparagus soup with some slices of green pepper, chives and some of those reserved sautéed asparagus tips.
- Serve with some slices of banana bread or any other bread of choice.
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