Food, Photography and Bons Mots
Every month Blue Cayenne features recipes from our archive of more than five hundred recipes. These recipes are our “Oldies But Goodies.” Today’s Oldies But Goodies recipe is for Asparagus In Puff Pastry. Here is the link: Asparagus In Puff Pastry. Want to dive deeper…
Need an easy but impressive dish for the end of the month? This Asparagus in Puff Pastry just might fit the bill. Don’t be put off by the puff pastry ingredient. There is no need to make your own. You’ll find puff pastry in the…
Here’s a little history…
People have been enjoying asparagus for a very long time.
Archaeologists excavated evidence of 3000-year-old asparagus on pottery at the Pyramid of Sakkara in Egypt. Apparently, Nefertiti loved the stuff and had the little stalks offered up to the Gods as a tribute.
Ancient Greeks and Romans also enjoyed asparagus. Roman Emperor Augustus is said to have coined the phrase “faster than cooking asparagus” to signal when he wanted something done stat. He also used his army (dubbed The Asparagus Fleet–I’m not making this up!) to fetch fresh asparagus and then used runners to transport the delicacy to colder climes in the Alps to preserve the vegetables.
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (one of my absolute favorite emperors) arrived unannounced for a visit to Rome sometime in the 16th Century–throwing his hosts into a panic. What does one serve to an Emperor who “just drops in?” They settled on three courses of asparagus (reportedly served on perfumed cloths) to a delighted guest. (There was a whole lot of wine, too.)
So, here we are.
It’s 2021.
It’s spring.
It’s asparagus season.
It’s time to indulge our inner Emperors (with or without the perfumed cloths).
Here is a great Asparagus Salad With Walnuts, Parmesan, Lemon, Olive Oil and Lightly Jammy Eggs.
This recipe is adapted from one that appeared in The Gourmet Traveller Magazine here.
When an Irish girl tells you that a potato dish soars, you should listen. This potato dish soars! Potatoes should definitely be on your Thanksgiving table anyway. The potato carbohydrates will give you the energy you need to keep things on a mellow Norman Rockwell-esque…
My market had big bunches of asparagus today–beautiful, tender green stalks. Can it be Spring? My recipe was adapted from a recipe that appeared on the All Recipes site. The link to the original recipe appears at the end of this post. Recipe: Cashew Rice…
The ancient Egyptians ate it. The Romans, too. Roman Emperor Augustus even coined a catchy phrase: “as quick as boiled asparagus!” to describe a quick action. (Apparently, those Romans really knew how to kid around, although “as quick as boiled asparagus” sounds to me more like something I would expect to come out of the mouth of Mel Brooks playing Emperor Augustus for laughs.)
The other day I was at Costco and saw a 2.25 pound bag of asparagus at a reasonable price.
Costco-sized packages of food are often too large for me to use. Does ANYONE really buy those enormous bags of potatoes they sell? But I digress. In a wild moment, I tossed the bag of asparagus into my cart not knowing what I was going to make with it. Then I got lucky and found this wonderful asparagus soup recipe.
What could be more elegant than a bowl of cream of asparagus soup? Fortunately, elegance is within easy reach with this simple soup recipe. And, if you are pressed for time, the good news is that this soup can be prepared as quick as boiled asparagus!
This is my adaptation of a recipe that appeared in Gourmet Magazine in 2001. The link to the original recipe appears at the bottom of this page.
Recipe: Cream of Asparagus Soup
2 pounds green asparagus (I used the entire 2.25 pound bag from Costco)
1 large onion (chopped)
3 T. unsalted butter
6 C. vegetable broth
1/2 C. heavy cream
1/4 t. fresh lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste, more unsalted butter to stir in at the time of serving
Directions:
Chop asparagus into 1/2 inch pieces, reserving 12 asparagus tips for garnish.
Saute onion in butter in a heavy soup pot, stirring to keep it from burning. When onion is soft, stir in asparagus pieces and salt and pepper and continue to cook and stir for 5 minutes. Add broth and simmer 15-20 minutes until asparagus is tender. (I use vegetable broth powder from Mother’s Market but stores like Whole Foods and Sprouts also carry vegetable broth powder. Those stores also frequently carry a faux chicken broth powder that works just as well. I do not recommend that you use the canned vegetable broth from Trader Joe’s. I love TJ, but think their vegetable broth is too strong and overwhelms the natural flavor of the vegetables in delicate soups.)
Puree soup until it is smooth. Return pureed soup to the pan and stir in heavy cream. Add salt and pepper to taste, fresh lemon juice and more butter if you wish. Garnish with asparagus tips (boiled in water until tender). I sprinkled a bit of cayenne pepper on the soup at the time of serving. A little cayenne goes a long way, so be careful how much you sprinkle on your guests’ soup.
Here is the link to the original recipe:
