Cream of Asparagus Soup. Photo by Katie Church
Asparagus has umami, a flavor known as the “fifth taste” after sour, sweet, bitter and salty. Umami was classified by a Japanese scientist sometime around the beginning of the 20th century. Present in a variety of foods, MSG was created in search of umami–now a dash of MSG and everything tastes better!
Umami is a savory taste with a satisfying distinction. Cultures with diets that include a high percentage of umami-rich foods don’t have quite the overeating and thus overweight problems that we in the United States do. When you eat a meal or a snack rich in umami, you are satiated, and therefore, you don’t feel like you need to keep eating in search of a fulfillment that eludes you.
Umami shows up in proteins: rich beef or fish stocks are perfect examples. Many kinds of fish are rich in umami (think sushi – just a little is so filling). It is also present in mushrooms, a well-aged parmesan, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and sea vegetables. Green tea also shows up on the list at www.umamiinfo.com.
It’s fun to experiment with umami. So often we eat salty or greasy foods that leave us full and wanting more; our eating pace quickens and our dissatisfaction increases as we stop paying attention to how what we are eating is making us feel. If we took the time to enjoy each mouthful and finished the meal before we are uncomfortably full, this would be a national revolution in and of itself.
In search of umami, I decided to make an asparagus soup. I had never made a creamy spring soup of any kind – cress, pea, asparagus, etc. As I set out walking to pick up some cream, I rolled the idea over in my mind. The following recipe is what I came up with. I served the soup for lunch with fresh buttermilk biscuits, chive butter and a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Not a thing was amiss, all was right with the world, and I found umami.
Photo by Katie Church
Cream of Asparagus Soup
1 bunch of asparagus, prepped (see below)
2 tablespoons butter
½ medium yellow sweet onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, cut into thirds
3 tablespoons of white rice
3 cups of milk
½ cup of heavy cream
Salt and black pepper to taste
About 1 teaspoon of lemon zest
To prep asparagus: Hold each spear one at a time in your hands and bend it until it snaps and breaks. You will have the tougher stem in one hand and the tender spear in the other hand. Each spear’s breaking point will be different. Discard the tougher stem.
Cut the spears into one-inch pieces. Reserve the tips of 8-10 spears.
In a medium (3 quart) heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter. Add the onions and sauté on medium-low heat until translucent. Keep the heat low enough that you do not brown the butter or begin to caramelize the onions. The goal is to bring out the delicate sweetness of the onions as you soften them. When the onions are soft and translucent, add the garlic. After just a minute or so, add the milk. Heat the milk slowly, bringing it just shy of a simmer. Add the asparagus and the rice. Cover partially. Keep the milk just below a simmer, until the asparagus and rice are very soft. This is admittedly not easy. You have to pay attention. If the milk begins to foam up, remove the lid, turn down the heat quickly, and stir once or twice to cool. Don’t let it boil.
Turn off the heat and stir in the heavy cream. Let the soup cool a bit. Puree either using a submersion blender or in batches in a regular blender. Return to the pan and season with salt, a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper and lemon zest. Add the reserved spear tips. Let sit covered. Reheat gently before serving, not so much that you cook the recently-added asparagus tips beyond al dente.
Serve in bowls with croutons, tea sandwiches, or toast and a hard-cooked egg. If you want to get fancy, serve in champagne or shot glasses as a tapa.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Fantastic recipe! I loved how the soup turned out. I can’t eat dairy, so I substituted half chicken stock and half hazelnut milk in place of the milk and cream. Soy and nut milks don’t seem to cook well (sometimes they curdle), so I simmered the asparagus in the chicken stock and added the hazelnut milk after I removed the soup from the heat. Without the cream, I also had to cut back on the lemon zest. I’m so happy I bought asparagus at the market on Saturday and tried this recipe. Thanks!
Thanks Amelia – great adaptation! I’d thought about using stock this way in the recipe too.