A subscriber to Recipes for 2 suggested they would like a recipe for asparagus soup … so as soon as I saw this one in Jamie Oliver’s latest cookbook I knew I had to make it. In typical Jamie fashion, the recipe reinterprets a classic flavour combination – asparagus and eggs – with great success. A beautiful spring recipe.
Serves 4 (2 with left-overs for another dinner)
400g asparagus, woody ends removed
olive oil
1 medium white onion, peeled and chopped
1 stick of celery, trimmed and chopped
1 litre good-quality chicken stock
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 small very fresh eggs
2 slices ciabatta bread
a knob of butter
extra virgin olive oil
Chop the tips off the asparagus and put these to one side for later. Roughly chop the asparagus stalks. Get a large, deep pan on the heat and add a good glug of olive oil. Gently fry the onions, celery and leeks for around 10 minutes, until soft and sweet, without colouring. Add the chopped asparagus stalks and stock and simmer for 20 minutes with a lid on. Remove from the heat and blitz with a hand-held blender or in a liquidizer. Season the soup bit by bit (this is important) with salt and pepper until just right. Put the soup back on the heat, stir in the asparagus tips, bring back to the boil and simmer for a few more minutes until the tips have softened.
Just before I’m ready to serve the soup, I get a wide casserole-type pan on the heat with 8 to 10cm of boiling water. Using really fresh eggs, very quickly crack 4 into the water. Don’t worry, they don’t have to look perfect. A couple of minutes and they’ll be done, as you want them to be a bit runny. Toast your ciabatta slices. Using a slotted spoon, remove all the poached eggs to a plate and add a knob of butter to them. To serve, divide the soup between two warmed bowls and place a piece of toast into each. Put a poached egg on top, cut into it to make it runny, season and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.
Oh, how I love Jamie Oliver. His recipes are so refreshingly simple and tend to focus on what really counts – the flavour. Jamie at Home is the latest of his long list of fabulous cookbooks. This cookbook is divided by seasons and is enhanced by information on how to grow your own fruit and vegetables. With a picture to accompany every one of Jamie’s great recipes I strongly recommend you pick up a copy.