Cream of Asparagus Soup
Soups, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Cream of Asparagus Soup (‘Spargelcremesuppe’)

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I eat white asparagus at least once a week when it is in season. It’s a magnificent vegetable that can really stand up for itself. Its flavor is subtle with a buttery rich texture.

It’s important to not mask the asparagus flavor. That’s why mild creamy sauces like the Sauce Hollandaise or this creamy soup go perfect with white asparagus.

How to cook the asparagus

Cream of asparagus soup is often made from the leftovers of steamed asparagus with sauce hollandaise or maltaise. You can certainly do that with this recipe. However, I tend to not have any leftovers when eating asparagus so that this recipe is made from scratch with fresh asparagus.

White asparagus

To give it some more flavor I first saute the asparagus over high heat before adding water to the pot to gently cook it through until tender. It’s up to you to decide how tender you like your asparagus. I don’t like it if it is too raw and crunchy. I prefer the tender and buttery texture when it is completely cooked through.

All of your asparagus trimmings are used to cook a quick asparagus broth. Cream of asparagus soup is usually never made by pureeing but rather by thickening a light asparagus broth with a roux. Always keep in mind to slowly whisk your broth into your roux to prevent the soup from becoming lumpy.

How to enrich cream of asparagus soup

It’s inevitable that you let your soup gently simmer for at least 10-15 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. It is no joy to eat a soup that is creamy smooth but tastes like flour.

The final preparation step is to enrich your soup with heavy cream. If you’re feeling fancy you can also whisk one or two egg yolks into your heavy cream before adding it to the lightly simmering soup. Please don’t forget to temper the egg yolk and heavy cream mixture with some hot broth before adding it into the hot soup so that your egg yolks won’t curdle.

Egg yolk

That way it will get even richer and the texture will be noticeably improved. However, the soup still tastes fine and reheats better without extra egg yolks so that I don’t list them in the recipe.

This recipe makes enough soup to serve as an appetizer for about 4 people. If you want to make it a main dish I recommend serving it with bread and maybe some salad on the side. A German meal is often a combination of different dishes where every diner can serve him or herself. Expect for soupy stews (‘Eintopf’) it’s very uncommon that one dish resembles a whole meal.

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