Asparagus is in season
The very short asparagus season is in full swing at the moment. This delicious vegetable (or is it a herb?) has a very short season of between 6 and 8 weeks. It is normally available in the UK from the beginning of May, but this year the season was a couple of weeks early due to the warm and dry weather we had in March/April.
Asparagus is best cooked fresh, and the quicker the cooking the better – my preferred method is to coat it in a little olive oil and sea salt, then put it on a hot BBQ grill for a couple of minutes on each side – you want it to be still firm in texture.
If asparagus is left for any time after being picked, the sugars in the stem turn to starch from the cut end. This results in ‘stringy’ asparagus, so before you cook the asparagus it is best to snap the cut end off – it will only snap where there is still sugar in the stem. Don’t throw away the ‘rubbery’ ends that snapped off, save them up to make a delicious soup:
Cream of Asparagus Soup
Ingredients
- a couple of handfulls of asparagus, plus any asparagus ‘ends’ that you have saved
- a leek
- olive oil
- 1-2 litres of vegetable stock
- 1-2 tbsp thick double cream
Method
- heat a saucepan with a little olive oil in the bottom
- finely chop the leek and add to the pan
- chop all the asparagus in to 1″ (2-3cm) long pieces and add to the pan, and retain the ‘heads’ for adding at the end
- saute the leek/asparagus for 5-7 minutes
- add the vegetable stock and simmer for 20-30 minutes
- liquidise the mixture and return to the pan
- add the double cream and asparagus heads retained earlier
- simmer for a couple of minutes and serve with crusty bread
- The soup may be chilled or frozen for eating later
Asparagus on the BBQ
Simmer the leeks and asparagus
Liquidise and return to the pan
Cream of Asparagus Soup done
