It's SO cold here in our home town right now (has been in the 20's)! If that were not enough, I myself have had the sniffles for the past week. With that being said, I had a craving for some soup tonight but didn't want the "same-old same-old" standby, like veggie beef or chicken noodle. No, tonight, I was craving something "gourmet-ish", but at the same time, REALLY easy and quick.
Here is my quick and easy take on a VERY fast pot of cream of roasted asparagus soup. You could essentially follow this same recipe but could substitute other veggies, such as broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash or any other veggie that you would like to try.
Soup....it's "what's for dinner"! Enjoy!
CREAM OF OVEN ROASTED ASPARAGUS SOUP
(serves 4 bowls or 6 cups of soup)
1 bunch of asparagus
1 pint of heavy cream (or half and half, your preference)
3 cups 2% milk (I use Horizon Organic with DHA Omega-3)
coarse Kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 or 2 dashes of garlic powder
1 or 2 dashes of onion powder
extra virgin olive oil
Danish Havarti cheese for grating (optional)
Preheat oven to 450°. Take each asparagus stalk and bend it. The stalk will snap when you do this. Discard the end of the stalk that snapped off. Once you have snapped all of the stalks, place then in a single layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle them with a hefty (not soaking) drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and then sprinkle them with Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then take a pair of tongs and toss them to coat all of the stalks. Spread them back into a single layer and roast in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until they are tender, but still bright green in color.
(pictured above, roasted asparagus that has been cut and ready to go in the processor)
Remove the roasted veggies from the oven. Cut the hot asparagus into "canned green bean sized" pieces. Place the hot veggies in a food processor or a blender and pureé. Once pureed, stream in the heavy cream and continue to process. Then stream in the ..
(pictured above, hot steamy asparagus, ready to be processed)
Once combined, remove the mixture and put into a pot and heat on medium high until very hot but not boiling. Add the garlic powder and onion powder. Adjust the salt and pepper to your taste and serve. Add a grating of a little Danish Havarti cheese to the top for extra flavor and maybe some extra pepper.
