Spargelsuppe

Two years ago this month, I took a trip to Europe with two friends (Connie and Doug) to attend our friends' wedding (Alex and Monika). When the three of us first arrived in Berlin, we went looking for a place to eat and stumbled upon an empty restaurant after quite a lot of walking. Apparently, this time of year is the season for white asparagus, and it seems like every restaurant in Germany was serving some form of it as their "special". This particular establishment was serving it in soup form - the most common, by far - under the name Spargelsuppe (literally Asparagus Soup.. mind-blowing, I know). Anyway, I think that Connie, Doug and I agreed that this ended up being the best version of Spargelsuppe we had on the trip, so I attempted to re-create the flavor. So far, this is the closest recipe I've come up with:

Spargelsuppe

1 lb white asparagus, peeled (like a carrot) and chopped into 1-inch pieces, tops discarded

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 cup cream

1 cup stock (I prefer chicken, but vegetable would probably work fine)

1/4 cup white wine

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp finely chopped sage

1 tsp sugar

dash of fresh ground nutmeg

salt, pepper

Peel, chop, and cook the asparagus. It is important to peel white asparagus because it has a layer of fibrous "skin" that is tough to chew. Generally speaking, a once-over with a carrot peeler will do. Bring 3 1/2 cups of salted water to a boil. Add the chopped asparagus pieces and sugar, and boil, partially covered, until tender - about 20 minutes. 

Warm the cream and broth. While the asparagus is cooking, combine the cream, stock, onion, and sage in another saucepan, and warm over medium-low heat. Try not to let it boil - we just want it warmed up enough to cook and soften the onion a bit. 

Blend cream mixture. Once the asparagus has finished cooking, scoop out about half of the pieces, and add them to the cream mixture. Using an immersion blender, blend the cream mixture until smooth. 

Combine. Once the cream mixture is blended, combine with the asparagus water and remaining pieces and add the wine, juice of half a lemon, a dash of fresh ground nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk everything together and warm over medium heat until most of the foam on top has left (blending the cream usually produces a bit of foam on top, so I found that heating the soup, stirring periodically, until the foam is mostly gone is a good amount of time for this step).

Garnish. For a quick garnish on top, I fried up the extra sage leaves in some butter. They added a tasty little crisp to the soup. 

If all goes well, you'll be left with a surprisingly crisp, light soup that's perfect for a cool spring or summer evening. 

Makes 3-4 servings, depending on your appetite.