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!
