Keeping Things Simple

I remember those days that I would spend hours cooking up some complicated recipe in restaurants or at home that would inevitably turn out well. Whether it was a classic French cake, or deboned and stuffed chicken hind quarters, with gravy made from home made chicken stock that cooked for 8 hours or more. I did not shy away from recipes that took a lot of time, but now it’s a wonderful thing to embrace simplicity in cooking especially when you don’t sacrifice taste in doing so. In this phase of my 42 years of cooking I love finding the simplest ways to prepare foods that taste great. It’s not that I don’t have the time to cook the complicated stuff. It’s just that I have so many other things to do rather than spend hours cooking a meal that should only take 30 minutes.

With asparagus season in full swing here in the Mid Atlantic I have been cooking the lovely stalk once thought to be from the lily family often and in many ways. I’ve stir fried it with rice. I’ve simply steamed it. I’ve baked it with garlic infused olive oil, salt and pepper. And it’s made many an appearance in green salads. My favorite invention of all my newly developed recipes has been the dairy free, chilled asparagus soup made with unsweetened almond milk. This one is so yummy, simple and so easy to make. Gone are the times where I would have used home made chicken stock for the base and half and half for creaminess. This soup needs no heavy calorie additions. The almond milk gives it a nice texture and the asparagus if treated right will hit you with it’s distinctive wonderful fresh green flavor. You still have a few weeks of asparagus season so get to your local asparagus place, whether it’s a farm stand or grocery store and give this one a try.
3 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
2 cup fresh asparagus cut into 1 inch lengths
1 1/4 unsweetened almond milk
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Spike, optional
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives, optional

In a 1 1/2 quart pot bring 3 cups water and 2 teaspoons salt to a boil. While water is heating wash asparagus and trim off the bottom tough part until you have about 2 cups cut in 1 inch lengths. Cook simmering for about 5-8 minutes depending on thickness of the asparagus then drain and rinse briefly in cold water. Add almond milk, oregano, salt and Spike, if using. Blend well in a table top blender or use an immersion blender. Chill for about an hour then serve with chopped chives on top.
Serves two but can doubled if needed.

Note: If you want a bit of a kick add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper.
I bought one pound of asparagus and ended up with a little over 2 cups after trimming the tough part off.
* You could probably use whole milk instead of almond milk and this would still turn out well.