Chef Thomas
A Proper Chicken Broth
Sunday's roast chicken, simmered slowly on Monday with carrots, celery, leeks, and thyme into a bowl of clear, golden broth that smells like the kitchen is paying attention.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Cream of Asparagus Soup
Created by Chef Thomas
A pale green bowl of English asparagus, made in the eight weeks when the spears are worth eating and the soup tastes like the season itself, gentle, fleeting, and worth every minute of your attention.
Soups & Stews
British
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
15 min
Active Time
30 min cook•45 min total
Yield4 servings
The asparagus arrives at the market in late April if the spring has been kind, early May if it hasn't. You know before you see it. There's a smell, grassy and mineral, faintly sweet, that cuts through the coffee and the bread stalls. The bundles are thick and the tips are tight and the colour is that particular green that only lasts a few weeks. The market decides. And for the next two months, asparagus decides what's for dinner.
This soup is the simplest thing I know to do with a bunch of good spears. Butter, shallots, a potato for body, stock that you've quietly fortified with the woody ends. It cooks in less than half an hour and tastes like you've spent the afternoon on it. The cream goes in at the end, just enough to round the edges, not so much that it buries the asparagus under a blanket of dairy. A squeeze of lemon keeps everything honest.
I make this three or four times each season, and I write it down every time. The note never changes much. "Asparagus soup. First of the year. Kitchen smelled green." There are few better feelings than putting a warm bowl of this in front of someone on a cool May evening, the window cracked open and the garden just starting to wake up.
A recipe is a conversation, not a contract. If your asparagus is slender, it will cook faster. If it's fat and woody, trim it harder. Trust your nose. It knows before you do.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
English asparagus
Quantity
500g
woody ends snapped off and reserved
unsalted butter
Quantity
30g
banana shallots
Quantity
2
finely sliced
potato
Quantity
1 small
peeled and diced
light chicken or vegetable stock
Quantity
700ml
double cream
Quantity
100ml
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
white pepper
Quantity
to taste
lemon juice
Quantity
a squeeze
asparagus tips (optional)
Quantity
a few
reserved from the bunch, blanched
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| English asparaguswoody ends snapped off and reserved | 500g |
| unsalted butter | 30g |
| banana shallotsfinely sliced | 2 |
| potatopeeled and diced | 1 small |
| light chicken or vegetable stock | 700ml |
| double cream | 100ml |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| white pepper | to taste |
| lemon juice | a squeeze |
| asparagus tips (optional)reserved from the bunch, blanched | a few |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy-bottomed saucepan
- •Stick blender or countertop blender
- •Fine sieve (optional, for a smoother finish)
- •Ladle
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the asparagus
Hold each spear near the base and bend it gently. It will snap where the woodiness ends. You don't need a ruler for this. The asparagus knows. Keep the woody ends. Simmer them in the stock for fifteen minutes while you get on with the rest, then strain and discard them. It's a quiet trick that puts asparagus flavour into every layer of the soup. Cut the tender spears into rough pieces. Slice the tips off six or eight of the thinnest spears and set them aside.
The woody ends are not waste. They carry flavour even if they carry no pleasure to eat. Simmering them in your stock for fifteen minutes gives the soup a backbone it would otherwise lack. - 2
Soften the shallots
Melt the butter in a heavy pan over a low heat. Add the shallots and a generous pinch of salt. Let them cook gently, stirring now and then, until they've gone soft and translucent with no colour at all. Five minutes, perhaps a little longer. You want sweetness from them, not caramel. If the butter starts to sizzle impatiently, turn the heat down. This isn't a race.
- 3
Cook the asparagus and potato
Add the diced potato and stir it through the buttery shallots. The potato is there for body, not flavour, so keep it small so it cooks quickly. Pour in the strained asparagus stock. Bring it to a gentle simmer and cook for ten minutes until the potato is tender. Add the chopped asparagus spears and cook for four to five minutes more, just until they turn a vivid, almost startling green and are tender to the point of a knife. No longer. Asparagus that simmers too long loses its colour and tastes like pond water.
- 4
Blend until smooth
Take the pan off the heat and blend until very smooth. A stick blender will do, but if you have a countertop blender this is the time for it. You want silk, not texture. Pass it through a fine sieve if you want perfection, pressing the pulp with the back of a ladle. I do this when I have the patience, which is about half the time. The soup should be a pale, clean green, the colour of early spring.
If using a countertop blender, fill it only halfway and hold the lid down with a folded tea towel. Hot soup in a sealed blender has ambitions you don't want to discover. - 5
Finish and serve
Return the soup to the pan over a low heat. Stir in the cream and warm it through gently. Don't let it boil or you'll dull that green. Season with salt, white pepper, and a small squeeze of lemon. The lemon is important. It lifts the asparagus and stops the cream from flattening everything. Taste it. Adjust. Taste again. Meanwhile, drop the reserved asparagus tips into a small pan of boiling salted water for two minutes, then drain. Ladle the soup into warm bowls, lay a few blanched tips across the surface, and bring it to the table.
Chef Tips
- •Buy English asparagus in season and don't bother the rest of the year. Imported spears flown in from Peru in January will make a soup that tastes of very little and costs you the memory of what asparagus is supposed to be. Wait. It's worth it.
- •The potato is a thickener, not a feature. One small one is enough. Too much and you're making potato soup with asparagus in it, which is a different and lesser thing. If you'd rather leave the potato out entirely, the soup will be thinner and more delicate. Both are good. Your kitchen, your rules.
- •White pepper, not black. It disappears into the soup without leaving specks. And the lemon at the end is not optional. Without it, the cream rounds the soup into something pleasant but blunt. With it, the asparagus stays bright and present. Season and taste. Then taste again.
- •This soup pairs well with a glass of something dry and unoaked. A Muscadet, a Picpoul, or an English white if you can find one. The acidity in the wine mirrors the lemon in the soup, and neither tries to compete with the asparagus.
Advance Preparation
- •The soup can be made earlier in the day and refrigerated before adding the cream. Reheat gently over a low flame and stir in the cream just before serving. The colour fades slightly on standing but the flavour holds.
- •Blanch and chill the asparagus tips in advance and warm them in the soup bowls just before ladling. They should look vivid and fresh, not grey and tired.
- •This soup does not freeze well. The cream splits and the colour turns from spring green to something murky. Make it fresh. It takes forty-five minutes. You have the time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 350g)
Calories
250 calories
Total Fat
18 g
Saturated Fat
11 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
5 g
Cholesterol
50 mg
Sodium
650 mg
Total Carbohydrates
18 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
6 g
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