Spargel season will be finished here in a few weeks, and we realized we haven’t yet made white asparagus soup. It is so yummy with very few ingredients needed as you want the asparagus flavour to shine.

Here in Germany if you’re buying asparagus from the market, they offer you stems already peeled which saves time in prepping. But if you like to make vegetable stock, you may prefer to peel your own and use the peelings for stock.

I made this soup in a pressure cooker, as I like the big size of the pot for pureeing hot soup. I was scared to use the cooker at first, with visions of the lid flying off like a saucer. But after watching Ralph use it on a number of occasions and having a manual with clear instructions, I became comfortable using it and prefer it over using a soup pot as it cooks much faster.

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, follow the instructions as below and just cook it longer in your soup pot – 25 minutes or longer.

Ingredients:

• 1kg white asparagus
• 1 onion, chopped (size depending on your flavour preference – we use a large onion)
• 1 large potato, chopped
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 cup cream
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black or white pepper
• Chopped chives to garnish

Instructions:

1. Peel the asparagus stems. Chop into pieces and reserve stems.
2. Melt butter in the pressure cooker. Add onion and potato and sauté until soft. Then add asparagus stems and broth and bring to a gentle boil.
3. Secure pressure cooker lid on top of cooker and select setting recommended for your cooker.
4. Cook for 8 minutes and remove from burner.
5. Depressurize the cooker, and when safe, remove the lid (use an oven mitt to avoid being burned by steam).
6. Puree the soup.
7. Add the tips, cream, and more water to soup if prefer a runnier consistency and heat until warm. Add salt and pepper and adjust seasoning to your preference.
8. Serve in bowls and garnish with chopped chives.

Tip:

• This is delicious served cold as well.