Asparagus Soup with a Goats’ Cheese and Asparagus Giant Crouton
Monty Don, he of ‘Gardeners’ World’, said something along the lines of ‘If cut-and-come-again salad is the one night stand of gardening, asparagus is a ten year marriage.’ To be absolutely truthful, he left me at the point he demonstrated the amount of digging in of grit required. I buy my asparagus.
The season runs from about the 24th April to about the 21st June. Depending on the year, it’ll vary. British asparagus is a truly lovely thing. All the things that make UK weather so .. annoying makes for great tasting asparagus. There’s a reason why we don’t export any of it!
The downside is, it’s expensive. That’s because it’s a fairly difficult crop to grow, it has a short season and each spear is harvested individually. Whilst the price is entirely understandable, I really hate throwing any of it away. Those tough stalks you snap off are not getting discarded in my kitchen.
My ‘ends’ get popped into a freezer bag until I have enough to do something with. Today, I reached the 1kg stage. I know this because I weighed it. I have never done it before and I strongly suggest you don’t bother. More or less, it doesn’t matter in the slightest.
Give your asparagus ends a quick rinse. Then into a big pot and just cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
While that’s happening, chop up a couple of onions.
Soften in butter. Lots of butter. Since the asparagus itself is virtually fat-free, high in vitamins A, B and C, full of fibre and folic acid – I’m thinking the butter is permissible. The onion needs to be soft, but not coloured. Add in 4 cloves of microplaned garlic cloves.
When the asparagus ends have been simmering for 10 minutes – drain. KEEP THE WATER!
I can’t deny the asparagus cooking water doesn’t look the most encouraging thing you’ve ever seen.
Add flour to the onions. For two onions and 100g of butter, I used two heaped tablespoons.
Stir until all the butter is absorbed by the flour and the onions are coated.
Then add the asparagus cooking water.
Return the softened ends to the saucepan.
Bring to the boil, and simmer for another 10 minutes.
Leave to cool.
Purée.
Sieve. Use the back of a ladle to push it through. The most fibrous bits of the asparagus ends will stay in the sieve.
This is the point at which it will freeze brilliantly. I reckon 300ml/2 ladles/10fl oz is a portion.
There were three of us for lunch today, so 6 ladles went into a saucepan with 150ml of full-fat milk. As of now, your soup has absolutely no seasoning. If you want to prove to yourself how vital salt is, taste. Bland doesn’t even begin to describe it. So, season to taste. In my case, 2 tsp of malden sea salt and 1 tsp of freshly ground white peppercorns.
Meanwhile, I got on with making some photographically appealing croutons. I oiled six asparagus spears and wiped up the remaining oil with three pieces of French bread. Then, I griddled them.
A generous dollop of goats cheese is lovely. Mine is ‘Moody’s Rosary Ash’ which is made on the edge of the New Forest from pasteurised goat’s milk. The black is an edible ash coating. (New to us. Dom and Jem aren’t wild about goats’ cheese, but they finished off the last bit of this one.)
Top with a couple of spears of asparagus.
A swirl of cream and a light sprinkling of parsley looks nice. Chervil is also good, but you have to grow it. As is, crispy bacon.
Eat.
Asparagus Soup with Goats’ Cheese and Asparagus Giant Crouton
Makes 10 portions/3 litres, approximately
- 1kg/2lb-plus of woody asparagus ends
- 2 onions, chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, microplaned
- 100g/1 stick/4oz butter
- 2 heaped tablespoons of plain flour
- 500ml/17fl oz full-fat milk
- Malden sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
- Garnish: Double cream/chopped parsley or chervil/slices of griddled French bread topped with goats’ cheese and asparagus spears
Place the woody asparagus ends in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for ten minutes.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan and soften the onion and garlic.
Drain the asparagus, reserving both the woody ends and the cooking liquid.
Stir in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes. Gradually blend in the asparagus cooking water. Then add the woody ends and cook for a further ten minutes.
Allow to cool, then purée in a blender. Push through a sieve until you have an ultra smooth soup. If you’re getting ahead, this is the time to freeze.
To finish: Place 300ml/2 ladles/10 fl oz of the pureé per person in a saucepan with 50ml/¼ cup of full-fat milk. This is entirely flexible. Add milk to create the soup consistency you prefer. Heat gently.
Griddle three slices of french bread and six asparagus spears. Spread a generous dollop of goats’ cheese on the griddled bread and top with the asparagus spears.
Pour the soup into bowls, swirl on some double cream, top with chopped parsley or chervil and serve the goats’ cheese croutons on the side.
Eat.