Asparagus soup my way

Much less calorific and when I made it last night I thought the angels were feeding me.  And about time, too.  I’m sick of dealing out one ounce portions of this and oil free portions of that.

I’m also stumped on which photo to choose, so I will put two up and you choose.  I’ll remove the one we don’t like.

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If you want to make regular asparagus soup, which is creamy velvet in the mouth,  go to lobstersquad  because she presents it as matter-of-factly as I have ever seen.  This is simple cookery, folks.  No magic, no special skills required.  Her illustrations are ineffably finer than mine, too.  However, nice as it is, I want asparagus soup without calories.

Buy a bunch of asparagus, wash them and snap the ends off.  Then cut them to an even length that will fit in your big pot.  Put your big pot, filled with water, onto a big burner and turn it on.  Add a small fist of coarse salt.  While it is heating, chop up the parts you removed, and put the pieces into a small pot with water to cover and some broth concentrate, or forgo the water and just put in broth.  Put that on a smaller burner to come to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and leave it alone.

When the water boils in the POT, toss in the whole asparagus.  Watch it come to a boil again, wait about 30 seconds and test.  They should still be firm but not taste raw.  Fatter ones will take a bit longer, but not longer than one minute.  Remove it from the cooker, put the pot under the faucet and add cold water to stop the cooking.  Drain the asparagus into a colander.  You already have your snacking and nibbling techniques in place, I think.

After about 20 minutes, remove the smaller pot, drain off the broth and keep it.  Pulverize the cooked asparagus and then sieve it– I used a food mill, but many things will do.  You do not want teensy weensy openings, or all you will get is juice, but you also don’t want the fibers to remain.   I milled it right back into the pot it cooked in.  Add back the broth.

Pick up a handful of the cooked asparagus spears and cut them into small pieces, leaving the tips whole.   Toss those into the asparagus puree and bring the whole pot to a simmer.  That’s all, folks.  No cream, no flour, no butter, just delicious asparagus taste and the rest of the stalks you didn’t use can be bagged and kept in the fridge for tomorrow.

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It’s a very good diuretic, as well.