Quick and Easy Asparagus Soup
Discovering a new quick and easy soup is a very exciting ordeal for me. Really kicks the adrenaline into full gear. I know, I'm so adventurous. I should probably take it easy.
But for real. This quick and easy asparagus soup is a wonderful new addition to my life. You see, soup is the first part of most of my dinners. Which is funny, because I used to totally not be a soup person. I always preferred my food in solid forms.
But I've turned into a soup person these past couple years. I haven't gotten on the smoothie train though, because I still prefer the rest of my foods in solid form.
I could have titled this soup "cream of asparagus soup." But I didn't. Because I didn't want you to think that there was any sort of cream in this soup. Which isn't even what "cream of asparagus" would signify. "Cream of asparagus" would simply mean that the asparagus in the soup was blended up. It wouldn't mean that cream was added to the soup. But still. I wanted to avoid any possible confusion.
My point is, there's no cream in this soup. This soup is light and dairy-free. It's smooth and creamy, yes, but the creaminess doesn't result from the addition of any dairy products.
Instead, to thicken this easy asparagus soup up a bit, oats are used. Don't worry, your soup won't be chunky or piecey - you'll be blending up those oats along with the asparagus and the rest of the soup ingredients.
Oh, and just use gluten-free oats if you want/need your soup to be gluten-free.
This is how quick and easy and basic and wholesome this asparagus soup is:
Heat some olive oil (or butter or any other oil of your choice) with the onions and garlic. Add in the asparagus (fresh or frozen), oats, salt, pepper, onion powder, and water and cook for an hour or so. Blend. And you're done.
That's it. Just nine basic and natural ingredients (no vegetable or chicken stock yay). Just five minutes of prep time. Just one hour of cooking.
After that, you'll be ladling out this steaming hot asparagus soup into bowls, garnishing the bowls with a swirl of olive oil and a few sprigs of fresh herbs if you so desire. Then you'll be ripping off chunks of bread (this crusty no-knead bread would be very ideal) to dunk into your super-tasty soup. And then you feast.
After which you'll be going back for seconds. And thirds.
Another delightful plus to having bowl after bowl of this quick asparagus soup: asparagus pee!!!
But moving on.
Quick and easy. Wholesome and cozy. So flavorful and delicious. So amazing when accompanied with chunks of crusty bread. I trust you'll be making this asparagus soup shortly. And weekly thereafter. Daily, if you must.
Quick and Easy Asparagus Soup
Yield: about 6-8 servings
4 tablespoons oil or butter (I prefer olive oil)
2 small onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs. frozen or fresh asparagus, trimmed and chopped
1/2 cup oats
2 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
3/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
3/4 teaspoon onion powder, or to taste
6-7 cups water
1. In an 8 quart pot, heat the olive oil over a medium flame. Add in the onions and garlic and saute for a few minutes, until onions are soft.
2. Add the asparagus, oats, spices, and water to the pot and stir everything together.
3. Bring soup to a boil. Once boiling, cover pot, lower flame, and cook soup for at least an hour.
4. Blend soup with immersion blender until smooth or mostly smooth. Taste to adjust spices. You may add more water if soup is too thick for your liking and bring back to a boil.
