Cream-less Asparagus Soup

It's the "green" time of year for many Irish people and those who just want a reason to drink green beer. Me? I could be considered Irish all year round with all of the green food I eat on a daily basis.  St. Patrick's Day also means the heralding of spring in my mind, though in Duluth that just means we won't endure too many more days of subzero weather or 8" of snow.  (I woke up on Wednesday morning of this week to 4" of fresh snow in our yard.  Enough already!!)   

So, as I was saying, spring...which means asparagus to me.  Though I know I have a few other asparagus soup recipes on this blog, that doesn't stop me from trying a new one to share with you. 

This recipe is an adaptation of one I found at Martha Stewart's site.  The original used olive oil to saute the vegetables as well as more for drizzling into the soup as it was pureed for a whopping total of 1/4 cup.  I easily substituted coconut oil and used only 2 Tablespoons of it.  I also omitted the water that was added to the chicken broth and thought it was still just a bit on the thin side, so you might want to reduce the chicken broth slightly if you like a thicker consistency.  But it's the crushed red pepper flakes that really makes the wonderful clean flavor of the asparagus stand out.
Lucky Leprechaun Pzazz! 


Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons coconut oil
1 large shallot, thinly sliced lengthwise
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
dash of salt
1# fresh asparagus, woody stems removed, chopped into 1" slices, with a few tips reserved for   garnish
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup loosely packed spinach leaves

Preparation:
Heat coconut oil on medium heat.  Add shallot, red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are tender and just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes.

Add chopped asparagus and cook for one minute. Stir in broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer. Continue to cook until asparagus is tender, about 15 minutes. Add spinach leaves and cook just until wilted. Puree with an immersion blender.  Now wasn't that easy!!

If you saved some asparagus tips to garnish the soup, boil them just briefly, then place in a ice-water bath to stop the cooking, then drain. This will soften them, but depending on the consistency of the soft or pureed food you need, you may need to omit this for yourself. But you might enjoy the visual appeal it adds. Yet, if you are just going to toss them anyway, its not worth the bother, unless you are also serving this delicious soup to guests and want to wow them a bit. I originally saved quite a few (as you see in the photo), but then added most of them to the soup to puree instead because I thought that soup was a bit thin.  

Nutrition per serving:
Servings per recipe: 5
Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 83
Total Fat: 6 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 494 mg
Total Carbs: 6 g
Dietary Fiber: 2 g
Protein: 4 g