Spargel Season! = Asparagus Soup

When I first read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Vegetable Miracle, in which she chronicles the year her family devoted themselves to eating locally, I was all over it. I had read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma just a few weeks before, so I was all about watching my food’s carbon footprint and eating what was in season.

In theory, anyway.

See, I was living in Las Vegas. The local farmers market consisted of two, eight-foot tables mostly filled with one woman’s salsa (which we already made at home). I did go out of my way (and by that I mean that I drove my car two blocks past the supermarket the the wine shop) to pick up a dozen expensive eggs each Tuesday that had been brought in from a farm outside Vegas city limits. (What those desert chickens were eating beats me. No doubt it had been trucked in from California.)

I tried to look at the paper label on the plastic packaging in Fresh and Easy to at least ensure I was eating the tomato from outside of Los Angeles instead of Santiago, Chile. But, I was still buying Stargazer Lilies from Costco on almost a weekly basis despite the face that they were never in season anywhere in the desert Southwest.

But now! Oh, but now I live in Germany! Any place with this much rain has got to have an array of produce, doesn’t it?

While I’ve got a pretty comfortable supermarket just down the street, there has been some adjusting on my part.

I cannot go to the store with a list of ingredients and expect to come home with them. Cilantro? Only, and maybe even then, on Tuesdays. Green beans? If no one else has bought up the allotted three packages that the store gets. When the store runs out, the store runs out. I’ve gone shopping in anticipation of potato leek soup and have had to improvise the filling of my shopping cart because of the lack of leeks (but never a lack of potatoes. Oh no, the Germans have got their potatoes covered.). It’s not an easy thing to get over.

But in the end, it’s kind of fun. I shouldn’t be eating asparagus in the fall. I shouldn’t eat fresh strawberries in the dead of winter. I shouldn’t ever have a banana (ok, so I do sometimes).  I should eat what’s on the shelf because it’s on the shelf for a reason.

The fun comes because of that shelf. It’s exciting when a long lost produce item makes its return.

Like in the fall, when it was Pfifferlinge season. Chanterelles, as we call them in English, are delicious but fairly hard to come by and expensive in the States. But not in Germany in the fall. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a restaurant that’s advertising its Pfifferlinge Karte– its chanterelle menu. Chanterelle sauce over schnitzel. Chanterelle-topped salads. Pastas. Risotto. You name it.

I bought a kilo (that’s 2.2 pounds to you) for two euros! Even with the dollar the way it was, it was a steal! That could have run you 60 or so bucks in the good ol’ U S of A. (And that is if your inlaws don’t have them growing on their property, like mine do…) In any event, it was awesome.

And now that it’s spring, the spargel is out. Asparagus. Big, thick, white asparagus. Have you seen it? Tasted it steamed with hollandaise sauce? Cold over a mixed salad? In a cream soup?

Now asparagus isn’t exactly my favorite of vegetables, but I think it’s the excitement that comes over Germany during spargel season that gets me (much like the World Cup, but that’s another blog). Little wooden stands pop up on the roadside, in supermarket parking lots, at the farmers market. Every restaurant’s got a Spargel Karte. I had to get behind it.

And spargel season’s been fun. I’ve learned a lot– like how it’s grown under a mound of dirt so that the sunlight can’t trigger photosynthesis. Or how you have to peel it and chop the woody ends before you cook it, and for the best results you’ll boil those peelings in water and use that water for your hollandaise sauce or in your soup.

Tonight I’m tossing it in Claire’s lentil and leek dish, and last week I adapted the soup Emeril makes with it’s green cousin. I will note that while I do like the green variety for it’s added color to dishes and pretty decorative tops, I stick with the white for what I do in the kitchen because it makes me feel so German.

I used Emeril’s recipe below except for the leek part. That’s right. You guessed it. Both the farmers market and the supermarket were out of leeks. I had some red onions, and so I used those instead. I also didn’t “trim the attractive tops” from my spargel, because the tops of this white variety are less than attractive. Which leads bland looking soup, but I promise you it tastes delicious.

Asparagus Soup aka Spargel Suppe

From Emeril Lagasse, tweaked to the tastes of Germany

3 pounds fresh asparagus, rinsed
8 cups chicken stock
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup minced shallots
1 cup minced leeks, whites only, well rinsed
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan, garnish

Trim the attractive top tips from the asparagus, about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in length. Cut the woody stem ends from each spear and reserve. Cut the remaining tender stalks into 1/2-inch pieces.

In a medium pot, bring the stock to a boil. Add the tough woody stems, lower the heat and simmer to infuse with asparagus flavor, 20 to 30 minutes.

Remove with a slotted spoon and discard, reserving the stock.

Add the decorative tips to the stock and blanch until tender, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Remove with a strainer and refresh in an ice water bath. Drain on paper towels and reserve for the garnish. Reserve the stock.

In a medium stockpot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. When foamy, add the shallots and leeks and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the chopped asparagus stalks, salt, and pepper, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the reserved broth and simmer until the asparagus are very tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat.

With a hand-immersion blender or in batches in a food processor, puree the soup until smooth. Adjust the seasoning, to taste. If serving right away, return to medium heat and add the cream and reserved asparagus tips. Cook, stirring, until the soup is warmed through, about 3 minutes.

Alternatively, if serving the soup later, do not add the cream and let cool at room temperature (or in an ice water bath). Cover and refrigerate. Before serving, add the cream and asparagus tips, and warm the soup gently over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

To serve, place the soup in a soup tureen and sprinkle with cheese. Ladle into demi-tasse cups or small coffee or tea cups, and serve.