Creamy Asparagus Soup

This recipe is adapted from a recipe in Gourmet magazine. I changed it a bit added some spice to it to give it a kick. It’s great for this time of year all you need is a pot and hand held blender and you will have a fancy restaurant style soup.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs fresh asparagus

• 1 large yellow onion, chopped

• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter or 3 swirls of olive oil

• 5 cups chicken broth preferably home made

• Leaves of 2 sprigs of fresh thyme

• 1/3 cup heavy cream

• Tabasco to taste

• A squeeze of fresh lemon juice

• Salt and pepper

Method

Cut asparagus into 1/2-inch pieces. Reserve some of the tops for garnish.

Cook onion in butter in a 4 quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Add asparagus pieces and salt and pepper to taste, then cook, stirring 5 minutes. Add 5 cups broth, thyme, and simmer covered until asparagus is very tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove aspargus tips and set aside.

Purée soup with the hand held blender away from the heat, until smooth. Return to heat and stir in cream, Tabasco and a squeeze of lemon juice. Season with salt and fresh pepper.

Garnish with asparagus tips.

Serves 4-6.

My all time favorite Soup Lentil Soup!!

On those cold winter days when you need something to warm you up, all you need is a good fulfilling soup. My favorite is lentil soup!! It takes very little time to prepare and about half an hour cooking time. The original recipe is made with Swiss chard, but I always substitute it with fresh or frozen Spinach, the reason being is that I always have spinach on hand.
Since its been cold outside, I made a batch today and thought I would share it with you.



Ingredients

1 Cup brown lentils picked over and washed
1 Pack of chopped spinach or 1 pound fresh washed and chopped
1 Potato peeled and cubed
1 Onion chopped
2 Garlic sliced
1 Bunch cilantro washed and chopped
2 Tablespoons Olive oil
1 Tsp Salt
½ Tsp Pepper
2  Lemon juice

Place the chopped onion and garlic in a large pot with a swirl of olive oil and sauté for 4 minutes. Add lentils, spinach and cilantro, potato and seasonings. Add about 5 cups of water and lemon juice, cook for 30 to 40 minutes.


Serves 4-6