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 Galton
Blackiston, of Morston Hall, utilises both the stalks
and trimmimgs from local asparagus to make this classic
seasonal soup. Photograph: Simon Lunt.
This recipe really came about through the enormous number
of trimmings and stalks left once we in the kitchen
have prepared asparagus tips for either a garnish for
fish courses or as a starter with Hollandaise sauce.
(Ah, there’s another classic sauce for sometime in the
future.) Here on the North Norfolk coast we are extremely
fortunate to have the most wonderful local asparagus
grown two miles down the road at Wiveton, and once sampled
you’re hooked.
And what makes the asparagus season so special is that
it really only lasts about a month. Then we go on to
summer berries, artichokes and hopefully warm weather.
So I can never really get enough asparagus at this time.
Please remember trimmings only for soup – keep the best
bits for use as explained earlier.
ASPARAGUS SOUP Serves eight to 10 people.
Three large bunches of asparagus (cut to the size of
your middle finger, then lightly peeled from the cut
end to about one inch upwards,so you achieve a white
stalk one third up and a plump green top). Chop the
stalks and add to the peelings. Keep the asparagus tops
for another dish.
1 large onion (peeled and thinly sliced)
2pts/1.2ltrs white chicken stock or vegetable stock
6oz/175g spinach leaves
4oz/110g salted butter
4 floz/110ml cream
salt and pepper
Cook the onion and potato
In a large pan, place half of the butter and melt over
a medium heat. Once melted add the sliced onion, then
the sliced potato.
Heat the stock
Now place the stock on a heat. Once the onions are soft
add the asparagus stalks and trimmings. Then once the
stock is hot, add this to the asparagus. Be careful
not to overcook the stalks as you want to keep the vibrant
green colour.
Test the stalks
Check this by testing the stalks and once softish take
the pan off the heat and place some of the soup in a
liquidiser or magimix, along with some of the raw spinach
leaves.
Blitz and sieve
Blitz well and pass through a sieve into another pan.
Repeat as necessary.
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