Asparagus-Potato Soup

Two sure signs of spring.......our first CSA pick-up, and it was loaded with pencil thin asparagus. Unfortunately, due to lots of rain and cold nights early in the season it wasn't loaded with much else (except a nice big bunch of beautiful broccoli). Our baskets are going to be skimpy or absent for the next few weeks. But we've been promised that it'll all be made up for later in the season.

As it turns out, we're leaving town for the weekend, and wouldn't have been able to use up a whole basket of stuff anyway, so I guess it all works out in the end.

So, what to do with over 2 pounds of asparagus?? Well, when your kids won't eat asparagus when they can see what it is, you make asparagus soup, of course. So, that's exactly what I did with this bunch of asparagus. Mairin gives asparagus a big "blech" whenever I mention it, but lo and behold, she ate 2 adult sized bowls of this soup!! She wasn't the only one to eat more than their share of soup......as a matter of fact, we finished off the entire pot!!

Asparagus Potato Soup

2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 medium carrots, peeled and roughly diced

2 stalks of celery roughly diced

1 small onion, roughly diced

4 Yukon gold potatoes, roughly diced

2 pounds asparagus, cut into 3 inch pieces

2 tsp dried tarragon

6 cups good quality vegetable stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in large pot over high heat. Add carrots, celery and onion. Saute until softened. Add potatoes and tarragon. Stir around until fragrant then add vegetable stock. Bring to a boil then simmer until potatoes are beginning to soften. Add asparagus and cook until potatoes have softened and asparagus is still bright green. Transfer in batches to food processor and process until smooth. Return to heat, add salt and pepper to taste. Serve garnished with raw asparagus tops and home made salt and pepper croutons. (leave off asparagus tops and add extra croutons if you have kids that turn up their noses at asparagus!!!)