Vegan Asparagus Soup with Hazelnut-Parsley Topping
Hello asparagus, and welcome back! We're making our first asparagus soup of the year, even though Julia doesn't like white asparagus (she loves the green one, though). So to make her fall in love with the white legume, I added a fresh hazelnut-parsley topping. The topping turns a somewhat boring classic into a delicious fresh summer dish! Guess who ate a whole plate of it... Julia!
To make sure that your soup will blow away all asparagus skeptics, here are a few tips:
- Good things come to those who wait! The longer you cook your asparagus peels and ends, the more flavorful your soup will be.
- It's the ingredients that matter! Using fresh high-quality asparagus is vital for a great asparagus soup.
- And last but not least: If your asparagus soup is too liquid, add a little starch dissolved in cold water (one tablespoon is usually enough).
And if you've become an asparagus lover after enjoying this delicious soup, we have many more great asparagus recipes for you such as our fried asparagus with spring salad and sauce hollandaise dressing or something more classic: vegan sauce hollandaise with asparagus & celery root schnitzel.
Vegan Asparagus Soup with Hazelnut-Parsley Topping
Ingredients
For the asparagus soup:
- 1 kg (2.25 lbs) white asparagus
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 50 g (0.5 stick) vegan butter
- 50 g (0.5 cup) flour
- 150 ml (0.75 cup) plant-based heavy cream
- 2-3 tbsp lemon juice
- 150 ml (0.75 cup) vegan white wine
- 1 pinch of nutmeg
- salt
- pepper
- sugar
- vegetable stock (optional)
For the hazelnut-parsley topping:
- 20 g (0.75 oz) parsley
- 100 g (3.5 oz) peeled hazelnuts
- 100 ml (0.5 cup) olive oil
- 0.5 garlic clove
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
Peel asparagus and trim any woody ends. Add the ends and peels to 2 l (8.5 cups) of water and simmer with a pinch of salt and 1 tsp sugar for at least 25 minutes. Cut the peeled asparagus stalks into pieces and set them aside.
In the meantime, prepare the hazelnut-parsley topping. Roughly chop the parsley. Add parsley, hazelnuts, olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice to a food processor and use the pulse function to blend it until it resembles the texture of a rough pesto—season to taste with salt and pepper.
Drain the asparagus peelings and ends but collect the asparagus’ cooking water. Add the cooking water back to the pot and boil the chopped asparagus stalks in it for approx. 15 minutes. Then drain but collect the water again. Finally, set the cooked asparagus pieces aside.
Make a roux in a large saucepan by melting vegan butter and stirring in the flour. Deglaze with white wine and gradually add the asparagus water while stirring constantly.
Add plant-based heavy cream and season the soup with lemon juice, sugar, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.Before serving, add the cooked asparagus spears back to the soup. If you like, you can add some vegetable stock as well until you get the desired consistency. Serve with a drizzle of the hazelnut-parsley topping.
