Seasonal…
Farm to table…
Funny how upscale restaurants use farm concepts to sell people on a nostalgic experience they have probably never known. Don’t get me wrong, I’m the first one in line when it’s announced that plans are afoot for a great restaurant dinner. The upscale chef probably has ideas for preparing that fresh produce that I will love, but would never think of, much less want to mess with.
Seasonal, farm to table food was what you ate on the farm from necessity; assuming you wished to eat on a given day meant that you would be eating what was ripe, whether you wanted it or not. But even if you didn’t, it would be the freshest I-don’t-want-that dish on your plate!
Lucky for me, when that dish was just picked asparagus, it was all good. Mom planted a huge asparagus bed, (undoubtedly with my dad’s labor) when they moved to the farm. She was a bit of an asparagus connoisseur, cutting the firm, thick stalks just slightly below ground level; only the stalks of perfect thickness. If they were too thin, you let them go to grow into the huge feathery plants that she said would feed the garden.
I no longer have the luxury of an asparagus bed outside the door, but I still love celebrating spring with the freshest asparagus I can find at the market. I have to laugh when I see some of the bundles of the thinnest stalks imaginable-these would have been my mother’s rejects. I stir-fry it just like she did, and also use it often for Thai inspired stir-fries and curries. There’s just one problem: I am always tossing out the woody lower stalks that break crisply off the stem. We didn’t have these on the farm, because we picked it at its peak. I’ve been throwing out these darn stalks for years, and suddenly that has begun to bother me…
Enter my Provencal Style Asparagus Vegetable Soup. I make a number of these easy soups, which are basically just vegetable purees, seasoned and thinned to the proper consistency. They are delicious hot, but when chilled, this one hits the spot on a hot summer day. And yes, perhaps peeling asparagus stalks is one of those upscale chef-fy practices, but this soup is totally worth it!
Provence Style Asparagus Soup
Ingredients
- 1 bunch lower asparagus stalks
- 1 3- oz or so potato peeled and roughly chopped
- ½ cup roughly chopped onion
- ¾ cup roughly chopped fennel
- 1 bay leaf
- 1- teaspoon herbs de Provence
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 ½ cups broth I use chicken, but vegetable would work well too
- 1- cup coconut milk lite or full fat
Instructions
- Use a vegetable peeler to thinly peel the asparagus stalks. Trim off the bottom if woody. Combine these in a medium saucepan with the potato, onion, fennel, seasonings and broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Cool slightly, remove the bay leaf, and then transfer to a blender. Blend to a smooth puree, then add and blend the coconut milk. Thin with additional broth if too thick. Taste for seasoning and correct if necessary. Serve warm or chill. Soup is nice when garnished with a scoop of sour cream or Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of herbs.
I do the same thing with the lower parts of asparagus stalks, though I haven’t tried adding fennel (which I love) or coconut milk. Last week I made it with added celery from the last bits of a bunch that was about to go over the hill, and it was terrific.