Eat Comfy, Go Lightly

The cold weather has finally hit California and I wanted nothing more than a dish that would warm my belly (probably has something to do with me being sick).  So I searched my refrigerator and stumbled across some asparagus I forgot I had. Its always so nice finding something in your fridge, that you forgot you had, and it turns out to be perfect for the meal you are making :) So I decided to make a cream of asparagus soup! I have always loved cream based soups but tried not to eat them too much because they contained so much fat. Well today instead of using cream or whole milk in the soup, I used non fat sour cream and the soup tasted amazing! The sour cream gave it the zing it needed! I couldn’t stop eating it and it made my throat feel much better :)

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Remove the ends from the asparagus and cut the asparagus into 1 inch pieces.  Reserve some of the pretty tops of the asparagus for garnish for the soup. Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a large pot. Once oil is hot add onions and garlic and saute for 5 minutes until translucent. Add potato and asparagus and saute for another 3-4 minutes until they have a nice color on them.  Cooking the asparagus and potatoes like this for a few minutes really adds another layer of flavor. Add in chicken broth, bay leaf, salt and pepper to pan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 20-25 minutes until asparagus and potato are tender.

Toss the reserved asparagus heads in a 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil, salt and pepper. Place in oven and roast for 5-7 minutes until cooked through.

Remove the pot from the heat and leat cool for at least 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaf from the mixture. Fill the blender half full with the mixture and blend until smooth. Remember, to leave a corner of the lid open and wrap a towel around the lid so an explosion does not occur. Finish blending all the mixture and put the blended soup back on the heat. While the heat is very low, add the cup of sour cream. Mix well until the sour cream is well incorporated. Simmer for a few minutes until soup is warmed through, but do not let the soup boil. Serve in bowls and garnish with the the roasted asparagus heads and croutons. I also added a dash of Tabasco sauce and thought it added some great flavor to the soup.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 10th, 2009 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Tudy, cooking and recipes, soups. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.