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This is another super easy and quick soup, simple and smooth asparagus soup. This is
a great basic recipe that works well with all vegetables. You could substitute broccoli,
you could substitute tomatoes, you could substitute corn chucked off the cob, just whatever is
in season or whatever you like. Cauliflower, celery, you name it, roasted peppers, it just
all works. So what we are going to do is very similar to what Lizzy did. Asparagus are in
season right now, they are actually a member of the Lily family and they come shooting
up out of the ground this time of year and itís just one of our joyous things of spring.
Asparagus are one of the highest vegetables in folate, again we were talking about beans
being a good source of folate. We want to cut the tips of asparagus on a diagonal so
that it all looks like little tips. And it all is little tips but it gives it a better
look and we do that by cutting on an angle like this. These have already been washed
we should have brought our little salad spinner because using that to wash just about everything.
We reserve the tips off to the side and cut the rest of it just in like 2 inch chunks.
(Technical problems with stove top). Ok so like Lizzy said, cutting an onion is super
easy. Lop off the top. Always set things on the flat surface to cut it so they donít
go rolling around. Cut it in half and take the first layer thatís next to the paper
layer off because itís generally it can be a little bruisy or moldy or cut and itís
just kind of tough. Again, go around. Once you know how to do a few of these tricks it
makes cutting and cooking so much easier, the onion just falls into place. A lot of
times youíll see people cut it this way too. Thereís no need thereís all these little
rings. When it gets to the end just flip it to the side, cut through it. You can use leeks,
thereís a bunch of leeks there. Those are also great. Onions, leeks, garlic, all those
members of the allium family. Members of this family have allyl sulfides in them which help
relax the blood vessels so that your blood can flow through your vessels more easily
and bring nutrients and oxygen to the tissues that require it, which is a good thing. It
also helps protect the endothelium which is the one cell lining thickness of your blood
vessels and keeps them nice and happy so that plaque doesnít form. It also keeps your blood
from clotting by preventing platelet aggregation. So weíre going to add a little bit of olive
oil to this pan and we are going to pretend itís sizzling. Iím going to try a different
pan for you. Okie dokie then, my pan wasnít behaving. And itís a stainless steel pan,
huh. Sometimes these induction pans donít work with things that arenít magnetic. So
an aluminum pan doesnít work. But here we go Iíve got a sizzle! So weíre adding our
onions, weíre going to cook those down. Weíre going to add a quart and a half, or 6 cups,
of vegetable stock. You could use chicken stock in this if you donít care about it
being vegetarian which is the same for all of these soups. This is just about as good as homemade especially
in a soup thatís pureed like this it almost tastes like homemade once youíve doctored
it up with all of these veggies. Weíre going to put the stems of our asparagus in. Weíre
going to use about 1/3 a cup of long grain white rice. It could be medium grain it doesnít
really matter because weíre going to puree it all, itís just adding to the body of the
soup. Weíre going to cook that covered for about 20 minutes. And this soupd actually
I did ahead of time and pureed it in a blender to make it really super smoothe and creamy.
So Iím going to show you it back here, weíve got it pureed. Nice and pretty, it becomes
a nice, smoothe, and silky soup. Weíre going to add a little bit of lemone juice. Any time
you add acid to a soup it really brightens up the flavor. If you roll it around a bit
it helps bust the cells up inside and again your getting that fresh lemon taste without
any preservatives and it just takes a second. This is my favorite little gadget Iíve had
this for about 20 years and I actually cracked it which broke my heart but I saved it because
I canít find another one exactly like it, well I have really looked I gotta tell you
that. So add a little lemon juice to brighten up the flavor, right in there. Season it with
a little bit of salt and pepper. Youíre allowed to have half a teaspoon of salt. Most of your
sodium, 75 % of your sodium is coming from processed foods. So if youíre eating fresh
fruits and vegetablesÖ and I just used maybe a quarter of a teaspoon in this, and itís
going to serve at least 6 people. A little pepper. If you freshly grind your spices they
will have a lot more flavor. And then weíre going to add the tips back into the soup just
to reheat it and there it looks so pretty. And so you get the texture difference, again
the health benefits, the taste, the texture. Weíre going to garnish this with a little
bit of fresh chives from my garden this morning. This is the little step that makes it look
like boy you really put in some effort, and itís like chives, come on. So weíll put
a little soup in here. Like Stacy said these things fill you up. There mostly water, broth,
vegetables, itís a great way to get vegetables into your familyís diet or your own diet.
Theyíre quite filling. Iím going to put a little garnish of greek yogurt on here.
Hereís a quick trick, if you donít have a little pastry bag, get just a plastic bag
and fold it over your hand so you have a little triangle there, or a little pouch, toss whatever
youíre wanting- this works great for making canopies or if you have to squirt cheese on
a cracker or a little topping. Make a little turnip, cut the end of, and then you can just
swirl the garnish. Itís the finishing touch that makes the difference. Itís all in the
presentation, you eat with your eyes first. This way you go out, and vegetables are so
affordable. This would make a nice good pile of veggies of soup. It freezes well, itís
great for you, and itís delicious. Do I trim the ends of asparagus off? Yes. As you can
see at the bottom thereís a very *** part of the asparagus and I had done that first
before I. And they say that if you break an asparagus it will tend to break especially
where it breaks best, but you have to hold it closer together. Once youíve broken one
just tip them all to the end so that you have them all the same length and cut them so you
donít have to sit there breaking tons and tons of asparagus. We do the same thing with
green beans, weíll just cut off the ends and line them all up and then flip them around
rather than sitting there and snapping each bean like grandma used to do on the porch
we donít have that kind of time. Of course grandma wasnít twittering and many of us
donít have that kind of porch.