I froze some, will be interested to see what do with them!

You pare-off the outside skin and cook the stalks in your liquid. When finished you can puree and then strain the liquid to remove any fibrous bits. Then you can add whatever gives you the soup you want.

I usually use a chicken stock as the base. I snap the stalks freehand and pare the bottoms for the soup base along with diced onion, and whatever other vegetables I might want. After the stalks are cooked way past tender I puree and strain it. I return the strained liquid to the pot and add milk if I want it to be a creamy soup. I chop up the reserved asperagus and add to the soup to cook just til tender.... no longer. Serve.

I put asparagus ends in a blender and blend them until they become liquefied. Then I make cream of asparagus soup.

dcarch

Pot stickers with asparagus and cream of asparagus soup

Thanks! I'm glad I didn't throw them away. Come Monday, Soup!

Sherry

I sometimes use them in soup and sometimes to make asparagus stock, but today I simply chopped them very finely and cooked them with rice. I also added asparagus tips to the rice, but not until the last 10 minutes of cooking time. When I make asparagus soup, I cook the stems in broth before I puré them, and then I strain out the fibrous parts before making soup or stock. I never bother peeling the stems, since I am going to strain the stock anyway. My favorite asparagus soup has crab in it.

Lars

I do the same as dcarch . I make cream of asparagus soup. I save the ends until I have at least 4 cups worth and then I look them over for really "hard & woody" parts. This is pretty easy to see because the part that is hard as wood is usually very pale on the end. I trim this small part with a sharp knife and put all of the ends into a pot of boiling water - just enough to cover the asparagus. I simmer the ends for however long it takes to make them soft and squisshy (technical cooking term). Then I pour the entire thing into my blender and blend until it is liquified. I add 1-2 TBSP butter and 1/2 cup heavy cream plus salt and pepper to taste. I serve this in mugs. I tried making it with a stick blender but it did not come out smooth.

DL

I finally got around to making the asparagus soup, and boy, was it ever good! I didn't pare the ends first, but I did cook them in chicken stock. I simmered the daylights out of them, blended them, strained them, added cream and seasonings and a splash of white balsamic vinegar. At the end, I added fresh tips and floated a slice of toasted homemade Italian bread. Hub almost swooned!

Thank you for your terrific help. The soup is great!

Sherry

PS I've chopped them and cooked them in rice, too, but frankly, it's not my favorite thing to do. I prefer to keep them separate.

I've been meaning to ask: What are the three beautiful white balls next to the pot stickers?

I was surprised that no one asked. :-)

Two things with this asparagus soup:

1. You can't get asparagus soup to look that green. I put in also some zucchini peels in the blender when I was blending the asparagus ends.

2. those were deep fried crispy rice noodle balls for dipping into the soup. A lot of fun to eat.

dcarch

Deep fried? But they're so WHITE! Did you make them yourself? (Silly question) How?

Very clever to color the soup with zucchini skins. What is sprinkled on top?

"Posted by sherrmann
Deep fried? But they're so WHITE! Did you make them yourself? (Silly question) How?
Very clever to color the soup with zucchini skins. What is sprinkled on top?"

I will tell you the secrets, just don't tell anyone else in this Forum. :-)

To make the rice balls, I use a thing that you make tea with tea leaves. It is a circular strainer in two halves.

When frying rice noodles, it is very easy to judge frying oil temperature. You just drop a tiny piece of rice noodle in the oil as a test. The oil will not be too hot to burn the noodles.

I sprinkled home-made tomato powder on the soup.

dcarch

Ahh I always throw them out :-O but now I know I can save them for soup. Awesome!

Al

A trick my DH told me was to break the stalk near the end. If it snaps it will be tender, if it bends use it for soup.

Nancy

So Dcarch, when are you going on Iron Chef?

I keep meaning to save my asparagus ends, but then forget them, or they get buried in the freezer. I need to be better about using them. Thanks for the reminder, since asparagus season is upon us. Hurray!

Sally

Sherry :
Lars ( Publickman ) had a good recipe for Asparagus ends.
I can't find it right now.

You have to cook them a little longer that the Tops.

Maybe he will tune in and give you the Recipe.
Lou

Lars:
I didn't look at the Posts, because I wanted to go lay my carcass down. I missed your's.

Dcarch:
I missed your Photo's too.

I'm out a here.
Lou

"Posted by sally2 ------So Dcarch, when are you going on Iron Chef? ------Sally"

Iron Chef? Thanks. I've been busy working. Not much time to cook. My skills are very rusty. :-)

dcarch