Soup Trifecta

I recently posted two soup recipes, inspired by garden produce (sorrel soup and carrots 'n peas soup), so here is the last in this spring soup trio (a recipe I whipped up! Very yummy). It is great with freshly harvested, home-grown asparagus, but you can use farmers' market or store bought:

Creamy Asparagus soup
2 T butter, divided
1 large onion, diced
1 cup sliced mushrooms (I like Baby Bella)
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
1 t dried marjoram
2 white potatoes, peeled, sliced thin
About 1 bunch asparagus, washed, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 quart stock (I used homemade vegetable stock, but can use chicken).
1/2 c. sour cream (low or non-fat OK, can substitute yogurt or buttermilk in a pinch)
1 t grated lemon zest

Melt 1 T butter in a sauce pan, the other T of butter in a Dutch oven or stock pot. Saute and caramelize the onions in one, mushrooms in another (crowding one pan with both will cause the vegetables to steam or stew and not caramelize, and you will not get their full flavor) sprinkling both with salt to sweat them a bit. When the onions are light brown and sweet tasting (20 minutes on low to medium heat) and the mushrooms are browned and soft (same) you can put them in the Dutch oven. Add the black pepper to taste and marjoram and cook on medium for 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, asparagus and stock and simmer for 30 minutes, lid on, until the potatoes and asparagus are soft. Take off heat, let cool and puree in blender or food processor (to speed this up, I use a large slotted spoon to remove the solids, cool them on a plate, the puree those, leaving the hot liquid in the Dutch oven).

Return puree to pot and warm it up if it has cooled a lot. When warm enough to eat, add sour cream and lemon zest. Serve with a salad from your garden and some home made bread, if you have it (I made pita bread).

Happy eating, one of the great pleasures of happy gardening!