Friday Food Inspiration

Happy Rainy Friday!

We’ve needed this rain in Los Angeles and I’m personally so thankful for this cozy end to the week. Dreary days are a perfect excuse to stay in and cook something yummy. Something yummy and healthy that’ll warm you up on a stormy afternoon. Earlier this week I bought greens at the local Farmer’s Market and they are so perfectly delicious that I decided to center a dish on the two best bunches I found: celery and asparagus.

Check out my Celery, Asparagus, and Pea Soup recipe below!

What you need:

-1 tablespoon of olive oil

-1 large onion, diced

-3 celery stalks, thinly sliced (make sure to wash really well- organic greens fresh from the farmer's stand usually have some dirt on them)

-4 garlic cloves, minced through a garlic press, or finely chopped

-5 cups of water

-1 large bunch (usually around 1lb.) of asparagus, trimmed, and sliced into 1-inch pieces

-2 cups of green peas (I use frozen organic peas from Trader Joes.)

-1 teaspoon of salt (optional)

-1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Optional Garnish:

-1 or 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh dill

-1 or 2 asparagus stalks, sliced with a vegetable peeler to create ribbons

-1/4 cup of heavy cream for drizzling

What to do:

-In a large pot, head the olive oil over medium heat and add the chopped onion, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the celery and onion soften, about 6-7 minutes.

-Stir in 5 cups of water with the vegetables.

-Add the sliced asparagus and frozen peas to the pot, stir to mix it all together, and bring to a boil.

 -Lower heat and simmer, uncovered, until the asparagus is very tender, about 15 minutes. 

-Work in small batches and puree the soup in a Vitamix or a blender. 

(I use a measuring cup and transfer to my Vitamix in batches of 1-2 cups--- however much I can move over at a time without making a big mess!)

 

-Once you’ve blended everything together, strain the mixture through a sieve, or meshed juicing bag,  pressing down to remove as much liquid as possible. Pour the strained liquid back into the original pot. 

-Heat the strained soup until it just reaches a simmer, and then stir in the lemon juice. Stir in salt, to taste. (I like to add a little kick to mine so I also throw in a pinch of cayenne pepper.)

 

If you want to step up your presentation here’s what you need to do for the garnish: 

-Run a vegetable peeler over the asparagus stalks to make ribbons and garnish each bowl of soup with some asparagus ribbons along with the chopped dill. Once you’ve added those, you can drizzle the top of each serving with a little heavy cream.

Nutritional Info (with garnish):

Serving size: about 1 cup, 130 calories (50 from fat), 6g total fat, 3.5g saturated fat, 16g carbohydrates (5g dietary fiber, 6g sugar), 5g protein.

This’ll make enough to reheat leftovers for the next couple of days. You can even serve it cold and it’s just as tasty. I hope you enjoy as much as I do!