Recipe: Asparagus Soup with Poached Eggs (using lemon and Parmesan, blender)

ASPARAGUS SOUP WITH POACHED EGGS

"Around here asparagus often grows wild by the sides of the orchards and pastures. I am always eager and happy to see it arrive on the market tables each spring. Some I pickle, some we eat fresh, and even more I whirl into this soup."



1/4 cup butter
2 pounds fresh asparagus, woody stems removed
3 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
4 stalks celery, roughly chopped
8 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste
4 poached eggs, for serving
Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Crusty bread, for serving

In a Dutch oven or stockpot, melt the butter. Once melted, add in the asparagus, onions, and celery. Gently soften the vegetables for 5 to 10 minutes. Don't brown or color them, just gently soften them; we want to keep all that delicious color!

Once the vegetables are softened, pour in the chicken stock. Transfer the soup to a blender (or use an immersion blender). Blend the soup until it's perfectly smooth. Once the soup is smooth, return it once again to the Dutch oven and gently heat it up over medium heat.

Season to taste with sea salt and pepper. If the soup needs a bit of a pick-me-up, give it a nice squeeze of lemon juice; it's such a delicious complement to asparagus.

While the soup is heating up, poach one egg per serving. Serve the warm soup, topped with a poached egg and grated Parmesan cheese, and another sprinkling of sea salt and black pepper. Naturally, a wonderful crusty bread is the perfect accompaniment.

Makes 4 servings
Adapted from source: Family Table: Farm Cooking from the Elliott Homestead by Shaye Elliott (Lyons Press; April 1, 2018).