Put away those winter vegetables! Spring is here and peas and asparagus are in season NOW! 🙂
Take advantage of the cheaper prices of these vegetables and switch up your meal prep menu with this wonderful, velvety-smooth soup that’s a major crowd pleaser. It can easily be made vegan with a plain, non-dairy milk.
Meal Prep Tip: As long as you’re roasting asparagus for this soup, roast an extra bunch to snack on (they’re so tasty and sweet when hot, right out of the oven). Or serve them over rice or quinoa with fish, chicken, lamb or tofu.
Yields: 8-9 cups soup (great for freezing!)
Serves: 5-6 large servings
Cooking time: 1 hour, but you can freeze some and even double the recipe to maximize the use of your time.
Ingredients:
- 1 large bunch asparagus
- 4 tablespoons olive oil or butter
- 1 small yellow onion
- ½ lemon (optional)
- 10 ounces peas (fresh or frozen)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ – ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried tarragon
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 3 cups broth (mushroom, vegetable or chicken)
- 1 cup milk
- Optional for Serving
- 1 spoonful of plain yogurt
- Sprinkle with pea shoots
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°F. If using frozen peas, take them out to thaw and pour into a bowl.
Wash asparagus and remove the hard end of each stem by breaking them close to the bottom. There is usually a white, more fibrous part near the bottom of the stem, where the asparagus will naturally break. Discard the tough ends.
Place tender stems on a baking sheet or two. Spread out evenly so they’re not touching. Sprinkle lightly with coarse salt and coat with about 2 tablespoons olive oil. Use your hands to coat asparagus well with oil and salt.
Roast for about 20 minutes, or until they are soft to the touch and very slightly brown on the top ends.
While asparagus are roasting, thinly slice the onion and cut the lemon in half if using.
If using fresh sugar snap peas, you will also need to remove the peas from the pods. You can snack on the sweet pods. They’re great dipped in hummus, yogurt dip or tahini sauce.
Heat a medium saucepan to medium heat and add 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter. Sauté the onions for about 10 minutes, or until soft, translucent and beginning to caramelize. You may need to reduce heat to medium-low to prevent burning.
When asparagus comes out of the oven, carefully transfer to a cutting board to let it cool before you slice them in halves or thirds.
Add peas to the onions and sauté for 2 minutes. Then add the chopped, roasted asparagus, along with the salt, pepper, tarragon and thyme. Then add the broth. Cover and let simmer for at least 20 minutes.
Turn off the heat and carefully transfer to blender to puree the soup well. Or you can use an immersion blender, but a regular blender will work better for this soup. At this time add the milk and blend again or stir in with a spoon. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. If you want, you can add a squeeze of lemon at this time as well, but it’s delicious with or without it.
You can top this with a spoonful of yogurt or a few pea shoots for a beautiful presentation.
The Empowered Kitchen Tips:
This soup freezes really well and tastes great as leftovers for up to 5 days in the fridge.
If freezing, place in mason jar with 1 inch of empty space left at the top and the lid slightly off.
Once frozen you can tighten the lid well to prevent freezer burn. Label with kind of soup and the date. Best used within 2-3 months.
French 
English