Fresh Cream of Mushroom and Asparagus Soup Recipe: A Treat for Your Tastebuds!

Last year, I began experimenting with asparagus. I love it roasted with olive oil and lemon! But I wanted something more, something a little fancy and filling. I don't make too many creamy soups, except for clam chowder, so I looked in my fridge. I had a pound of asparagus and about a pound of white, button mushrooms. I decided that I would try my hand at combining the two and the following recipe is what I came up with. It turned out so good that I have made it at least a dozen times since. I have never tried to freeze it, so I won't tell you it freezes well. I will tell you this: it is delicious, a little bit decadent, and one of my favorites!

1. 1 pound of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces (I do not use the ends; I think they are a little tough, so trim off at least the bottom inch and a half-make sure what is left is not woody-feeling)
2. 1 pound of white, button mushrooms, cleaned and chopped into small pieces
3. 1 and 1/2 quarts of homemade chicken stock or 1 and 1/2 boxes of low sodium chicken broth
4. 4 green onions, chopped small
5. 2 celery stalks, include several leaves, finely chopped
6. 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
7. 1/2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes
8. 1/4 teaspoon of ground, black pepper
9. 1 teaspoon of salt (providing you are using low salt stock or broth-if not, season to taste)
10. 3 Tablespoons of butter
11. 3 Tablespoons of olive oil
12. 2 cups of whole milk, that have been allowed to come to room temerature (or if you really want to be decadent, use one cup of half and half and one cup of whole milk- I highly recommend this, since I am not your doctor!)
13. zest of one lemon

Using an 8 quart stockpot, melt the butter into the olive oil. Drop in the onions, garlic, lemon zest, red pepper flakes and the asparagus. Sauté this mixture gently. Don't turn the heat up too high. It may burn the garlic. When the onions are tender, add the mushrooms. Sauté the mushrooms until they are fully cooked. If you are going to use low salt stock or broth, add salt when you add the mushrooms. This will help to sweat out the moisture in the mushrooms.

Add the chicken stock or broth and the ground black pepper. Raise the heat and bring this to a boil. Allow this to gently boil for about 30 minutes. You want to make sure that the asparagus is very tender. You may lose a little of the broth, but that is alright. Taste the soup and decide how much salt you need if your broth was salted.

Add any needed salt. Remove the soup from the heat. Temper the milk with the broth. You do this by gently stirring a ladle full of the hot broth slowly into your milk. Now add the milk mixture into the soup while stirring. There is no need to return the pot to the heat. If you have an immersion blender, blend the soup to puree some or all of the asparagus and mushrooms. If not, remove the desired amount of vegetables from the pot with a large, slotted spoon. Allow these to cool off a little bit in a large bowl. Then use either your food processor or blender to puree the vegetables. I like mine when it is not totally pureed, but you may prefer the vegetables completely pureed. That would be a more traditional creamy soup. After the vegetables are pureed, return them to the pot. The soup is ready to be enjoyed!

I am not really sure how many this will serve. I know that it will be dinner for 2 one night and enough leftovers for a few lunches. If you serve this with a salad and some crusty bread and butter, I would say with confidence that it will easily serve 4, leaving enough for the cook to have a bowl the next day.

I have heard that many people serve cream of asparagus or cream of mushroom soup with a little bit of chopped bacon and a dollop of sour cream on top. I have not tried this soup like that, but I think that would be great!