Cream of Asparagus Soup

This is a super easy and delicious soup made from the part of the asparagus that most people throw away, the end cuts. In the photo, I have garnished the soup with some sautéed asparagus, but this is not necessary. The cream soup stands on its own, without garnish. This means you can prepare the asparagus, as shown, and serve them as a side dish to your main course, such as a pan seared filet mignon with sauce hollandaise, while the soup becomes a course of its own. So you get two dishes for a little more than the price of one. 

You can use this recipe as a base for many other cream soups. For example, change asparagus to crab, the white wine to sherry, and add some ½'ed lemons and Old Bay, you'll have crab bisque. Make lobster stock  (from lobster shells) instead of asparagus stock and you'll get lobster bisque. Same goes for crawfish. Add creamed corn, PEI Mussels, spinach, and curry powder you get one heck of a good chowder. You can make a mushroom stock, leaving the mushroom bits in, then make the cream soup, over-thickening it a bit, and use it to make green bean casserole. The sky and your imagination are the limit. 

Note: The traits of a good chef is having minimal waste with maximum efficiently. You never want to throw anything away. Ends of carrots, tomato ends, butts of celery, onion cores, mushroom stems, should be saved and used for stock. But when wondering what vegetables to use in your stock, remember that you want a stock to be flavorful, but also be neutral. Neutral flavoring means that the flavor of the stock will lend itself to just about any cooking style and flavor profile. This is why bell peppers should not be used for stocks, unless you are going fro that specific flavor, as they DO NOT have a neutral flavor. Neither does asparagus. So, we are going to be making an asparagus stock, that will become the base for the cream soup. You should get accustomed to making stocks, as they should be the base for most of your sauces and soups. For example, if you get shrimp, don't throw the shells away...Make a shrimp stock. Use that stock to make the sauce for your shrimp. If you're making scampi,  for example, after sautéing your shrimp, deglaze the pan with the stock and reduce by ¾, then deglaze with the white wine and lemon as per usual (You may want to remove the shrimp before the sauce is compete to prevent overcooking)...Stocks infuse your food with more flavor and enrich your cooking, They can become dishes themselves, and they mostly use scraps your already throwing in the garbage.  

Note: It is important to realize that these recipes are merely guidelines to follow. They'll taste great as they are, but I encourage you to play with them and make the recipes your own.

Note: It is good practice to read the entire recipe, while paying particular attention to the "Notes", before you try to make the dish, as there are often subtleties that can be easily overlooked, which sometimes, can make all the difference in the world for the outcome. 

Serves 4

Skill Level: Beginner

Prep time about 10 minutes.

Cook Time about 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1 Bunch Asparagus
• 3 cloves garlic, minced.
• ½ cup Chicken Stock
• ½ cup White Wine
• 2 cups Almond Milk
• 1 Pint Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 Tbls butter
• Arrow Root (Corn starch can be used, but not recommended)
• Kosher Salt
• Pepper
• White Wine
• Extra virgin olive oil

Tools Needed:

• Paring Knife
• Saucepan
• Mesh Strainer
• Cutting Board

First, determine where the asparagus are the juiciest. To do this, simply bend the stalk until it breaks. It is from that point, upwards the asparagus is the juiciest, and from that point and below, the driest and most fibrous. These dry, fibrous ends are the focus of this recipe. Cooking the tips is simply a matter of blanching in boiling, salted water, then shocking in ice water, then sautéing in butter with salt and pepper to taste.

Using a paring knife, at about an inch above the break point we just found, begin making tapered cuts right up to the break point. When you have gone all the way around, simply bend and snap it off.

Note: Cutting asparagus in this manner is just for appearance. 

This is the scrap pile that would normally be tossed away, well we're going to make a great soup out of it.

Sauté the asparagus, with the minced garlic in a few tablespoons of olive oil.












Deglaze with white wine and chicken stock.

Note: Stocks can be used as the foundation to other stocks. In particular, it is common to make a stock, then re-boil the stock constituence, making a second, thinner stock known as a remouillage or "remi" for short. A remi is a type of stock specifically used as the base for the next stock prepared. Doing so, insures no flavor is lost or wasted.

Once the wine and stock have reduced by 70-75%, add the Almond milk and then the heavy cream

After simmering with stock in the cream for 20 minutes, strain through a mesh strainer. 

Now, take a few tablespoons of arrow root, or corn starch, and make a slurry (a mix of starch and cold liquid, water in in this case). Add the slurry, little-by-little, until the the soup reaches the desired thickness. Adjust flavor with salt and pepper and enrich with the tablespoon of butter,  a process known as monte au beurre.

Note: The reason corn starch is not recommended, is due to the fact it is unstable. By unstable, I mean that if you reheat something thickened with cornstarch 2 or 3 times, the corn starch will completely loose its ability to thicken. Arrow Root, on the other hand, is a sable starch and therefore can withstand unlimited rehearings without losing its thickening property.

Note: If the soup becomes over-thickened, then simply thin down by adding water, or stock, little-by-little, until the the soup reaches the desired thickness. Then, re-adjust the flavor with salt and pepper.

Fun Fact: Soup can be maintained indefinitely, if brought to a boil at least once a day. In Jamaica, there is a soup tradition known as a "Pepper Pot", whereby a family keeps a soup based meal going continuously for decades, and in some cases, more than a century.

Enjoy.

Sautéed Chicken and Pearl Onions tossed with Roasted Red Bell Pepper Fettuccine in a White Wine Butter Sauce.

Note: It is important to realize that these recipes are merely guidelines to follow. They'll taste great as they are, but I encourage you to play with them and make the recipes your own.

Note: It is good practice to read the entire recipe, while paying particular attention to the "Notes", before you try to make the dish, as there are often subtleties that can be easily overlooked, which sometimes, can make all the difference in the world for the outcome. 

Serves 2

Skill Level: Intermediate

Prep time about 30 minutes.

Pasta rest time at least 1 hour.

Cook Time about 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken Thighs
• 1/3 Jar of roasted red bell peppers
• Basil (dry or fresh)
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 Tlbs Small diced leeks
• 1 cup perl onions
• ½ cup chicken stock
• ¼ cup white wine
• 4 Tbls butter, cut into slices, cold
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• Kosher Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Extra virgin olive oil

Tools Needed:

• Food Processor
• Chefs knife
• Paring Knife
• Sauté pan
• Sautoir pot
• Pasta Machine, Hand Cranked or Electric
• Cutting Board

Note: For the pasta recipe, see http://goldenislescooks.blogspot.com/2013/07/roasted-red-bell-pepper-open-face.html

Note: You will have pasta leftover. It will keep, refrigerated for about 5 days, so you can make other dishes, such as the above salmon ravioli. 

Once you have made and rested your pasta, you can run it through your pasta machine to cut the fettuccine.

Note: Fist use the rollers, or a rolling pin, to make the pasta the desired thickness. Then switch to the cutter blades to slice the pasta noodles. 

Note: You can had cut the pasta. If you do, make it easy on yourself and make pappardelle, which is nothing more than 1" wide fettuccine.

You can lightly dust your cut pasta with some flour to ensure it doesn't stick to itself.

To debone the chicken thighs, cut along each side of the femur bone.

Cut around the hip joint to release the bone. Do the same for the tibia bone.

When both bones are released from the meat, pull them back together so that you can cut around the joint to remove the two bones all together.

Try not to cut into the cartilage, as it can make into the dish by accident, making for an unpleasant when bitten into.

Remove the skin and any cartilage that may be left behind.

Large dice the chicken. Then salt and pepper the meat.








In a small Sauteuse, commonly known as a sauté pan, on low heat, begin slow cooking your leaks in olive oil. Leave the garlic whole and pull them out at the end, just prior to serving.



In a Sautoir pan, brown your chicken, in olive oil then add the perl onions. Once the onions have sweated down, add the slow cooked garlic and leeks. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, then add your chicken stock. Reduce by ¾'s. Add the cold butter while constantly tossing the pasta. At the very end, when the butter is 100% incorporated, toss in most of the Parmesan, leaving some for a topping. 

Adjust the flavor of the pasta with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley and Parmesan. 

Serve immediately. 

Enjoy.

Roulade of pork Loin, filed with Chorizo, Artichokes, and Roasted Red Peppers. Served with Butternut Whip and Finished with Brown Cashew Butter.

Roulade of meats is one of the best way to take a boring cut of meat and make something that will wow your family and friends. You want to pick a tender cut of meat to do this with, like a pork roast, pork tenderloin, beef tenderloin, lamb chop, veal chop, turkey breast, etc...

The only limit to the stuffing depends on the meat your going to be cooking. If it is a large roast like I'm preparing, you wouldn't want to fill full of cheese, as it you completely ooze out the sides and burn on the cooking pan. 

Your also going to want to make sure your chef's knife is sharp, as this will make the process much easier. 

Makes about 6 portions

Skill Level: Intermediate

Prep time 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• Pork Loin Roast
• 3 Chorizo Sausages
• 1 cup uncooked bacon ends and pieces 
• 1 Can Artichokes
• 1 jar of Roasted Red Bell Peppers
• 1 Butternut Squash
• Heavy Cream
• ½ Stick Butter
• ½ cup Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Dry Basil
• ½ tsp Dry Thyme
• 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
• 1 tsp Dry Parsley
• ¼ tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
• Toasted Cashews
• Sweet Onion

Tools needed:

• Large Cutting Board
• Chef's knife
• Pairing/Petty knife
• ½ Sheet Pan or Cookie Sheet
• Large Spoon
• Food Service Wrap
• Sautoir Pan

Pre-Heat Oven to 350 Degrees

Split the Butternut Squash down the middle and use a large spoon to scoop out the seeds.

Note: The seeds can be toasted and salted just like pumpkin seeds.

Salt, pepper, and rub olive oil all over the squash haves.

Place skin side up in a 350 degree oven and cook until soft to the touch. About 30-40 minutes depending on the size.

Cut just one end off the pork cryovac packaging.

Turn upside down over a sink or garbage can to allow juices to drain while sliding the meat free from its packaging.

Use petty knife to remove any silver skin, but leaving the fat.

Silver skin removed with the fat cap remaining.

Placing your chef's knife coincident with the cutting board, the handle should create the perfect thickness for your roulade.

Keeping your knife coincident with the cutting board, cut down the length of the meat.

Unroll the meat as you go.

By the end, you should have a large sheet of meat that is of even thickness.

Now to prepare the filling. Remove the chorizo from the casings.

Medium dice the onion.

Chop and cook the bacon.

When the bacon is browned, add the chorizo.

When the chorizo has cooked, add the onions.

After the onions have sweated, add the artichokes, the roasted red peppers, basil, thyme, paisley, and smoked paprika.

Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and cook for about 5-7 minutes.

Allow to stand and cool in a bowl.

Once the filling is cool, spread evenly over the meat, leaving a flap that is clean. This flap with help the loin hold its shape once cooked.

Roll up as tight as you can, making sure your not squeezing any of the filling out of the sides.

Wrap in the food service wrap in such a way you can twist the ends, like sausages.

Then refrigerate. This will allow the proteins to lock, again to help ensure that the loin holds its shape during the cooking process. It is best to do this the day before and let the loin rest, wrapped tight, over night.

When you poke the squash with your finger and they are soft to the touch, they are ready.

Place on cutting board, skin side down, then gently scrape out the meat.

In a sauce pot, bring the cream and brown sugar to a boil. Add a dash of salt and vanilla.

Whisk the cream mixture into the squash until the desired consistency.

When ready, remove the plastic from the loin and place on a ½ sheet pan.


Cook at 350 degrees until golden brown. Allow to rest for about 10 minutes.

In the mean time, if you used a bulk can of artichokes like i did, you can transfer the artichokes and brine to freezer bags, of approximately the sized portions your use for recipes and freeze them for later.

After the loin has rested place on a clean cutting board.

2 thick slices make a good portion size.

Toast your cashews in butter with a little salt if you bought raw cashews like I did, and let the butter brown a bit.

Put the butternut squash on the plate, two slices of pork, then top with cashews and brown butter.

Enjoy.