Roasted Asparagus and Leek Soup

I’ve been slightly obsessed with asparagus lately. Now I’m feelin’ the leeks as well. Blame it on the Farmer’s Market! Everything has been looking so great lately.


The only special tool you need for this is a food processor. You could use a blender too. A food mill just won’t do the trick really. The asparagus has a tough time going through the mill. Trust me, I tried, it just didn’t work. Pull the food processor out for this one.
 Makes about 4 – 6 servings
Source Happy Yolks Ingredients
1 bunch of asparagus
1 leek, cut into rings
1/2 yellow onion
1 Russet potato, sliced thin
3 garlic cloves, minced
Red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
Olive Oil
1 quart chicken broth or stock, low sodium if you can find it
Freshly grated nutmeg, optional
Fresh parmesan, optional
Preparation Instructions
Preheat your oven to 425.
Get out a baking sheet or baking dish. Something with sides so the asparagus doesn’t roll off.
Wash and trim your asparagus. I usually trim off about 1 – 2” off the woody stem.
Lay them on the baking sheet and drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the asparagus. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper.
Give the pan a shimmy. Or get your hands in there. Get the asparagus coated.
Pop it in the oven for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, give the pan a shake. You could get a spatula out, but just give it a good shimmy. No use washing another utensil. Let them go for an additional 20 minutes.
While the asparagus is roasting, set a large pot over medium/high heat. Coat the pan, lightly, with olive oil. Toss in your onions.
Clean your leeks. They tend to be pretty sandy. You’ll need to trim off most of the green tops for this. Trim off a little off the white as well. Separate the leaves and let the water flow over them for a few minutes. You can either fill up your sink and drop in the leeks, give them a swish and the grit will fall to the bottom. Or you could put them in a colander and run the water over them. Either way you choose, get the dirt and grit off.
Once they’re clean, cut them into rings. I chopped off most of the green, but didn’t go too crazy, the original recipe called for only greens. To each his own.
Drop those, as well as the garlic and thinly sliced potatoes, into the pot. Sprinkle a pinch or two of red pepper flakes in there as well. Don’t add any salt until after everything goes into through the food processor and you’ve added the broth. We’ll salt later.
Let those cook until the asparagus is out of the oven.
Once the asparagus is done, you could dice it up, or throw it in the pot whole. I left mine whole. I knew it was going into the processor, so I didn’t care too much.
Let everyone cook together for a few minutes, 10 minutes or so.
Add your broth. I used enough to cover the mixture. It was a whole quart. I also knew I didn’t want 15,000 servings, so I probably could have added more broth, but chose not to.
Bring that up to a boil, then kick it down to a simmer. Let that cook for about 10 – 15 additional minutes.
Get out your food processor (or blender). This is a tricky step. This could get very messy very quickly. My tip is to use tongs (if you kept the asparagus whole) to get the asparagus out first. Then a slotted spoon to get out the onion and leeks. Throw that into the food processor. Go as far as you want on that. It’s a personal preference thing. If you want to keep it a little chunky, just don’t go as long.
Drop that mixture back into the broth. Bring it back up to a boil. Taste and adjust your seasonings. You’ll probably need salt (assuming you used low sodium broth/stock). Adjust as desired.
Bring it down to a simmer and let it go until you’re ready to eat. The longer it goes, the deeper the flavor.
I topped with a little grated nutmeg, cracked black pepper, some chopped parsley and a tiny bit of grated parmesan if you’d like.
Enjoy!

I did :)