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I rode out my first hurricane at the beach this weekend! Obviously that’s not exactly something to be proud of since they can be so devastating at times but since we basically had nowhere else to go, we had to just ride it out so I got to experience a category 2. Not something I’d wish for, by any means, but again, since we were there and had no other choice but to ride it out, we did the best we could. It was definitely freaky. The entire beach house was shaking! The glass windows were wobbling and shaking, too. I’ve never experienced that before. It felt like an earthquake along with a crazy amount of rain. I’m thankful that we were all able to get out of it safe and sound and that the storm wasn’t a super nasty one. I know a lot of people lost power but hopefully all that is restored now. After the hurricane, we were left with gorgeous beach weather which we were sure to soak up for the last two days that we were there. This is probably our only beach trip for the year and I’m thankful that the weather cooperated despite the hurricane! I also got the chance to meet up with one of my Pure Barre instructors who also has a beach house where we were. We spent a good two hours at the pool on Saturday just soaking up the rays and chit-chatting the day away. Isn’t it such a small world?
We saw gorgeous fireworks over the sound where our beach house was and although they were from afar, the view was still spectacular. I love the bright light explosions in the sky. Beach + family + good food + drinks = a great long weekend to celebrate America’s birthday! How was your 4th?
Remember for our one year wedding anniversary, Jason and I went to The Inn at Little Washington? And do you remember me RAVING about the chilled creamy asparagus soup shooter we had there as one of our appetizers? Oh my goodness, I really could NOT stop thinking about the soup and I immediately went on a hunt to look for the recipe to recreate it at home. I finally found it online (it’s actually in owner Patrick O’Connell’s cookbook) and went to the store to grab all the ingredients and made it! It makes a huge batch and we probably had it three times a day for a good three days or so. We couldn’t get enough of it. It was awesome to have it in the warm weather, too. The chilled soup was just so refreshing and cooled you down! The flavors are outstanding and there isn’t a flavor that is overly powerful (even if it’s called asparagus soup). They’re all very subtle but it all comes together perfectly in one of the creamiest, most luxurious soups I’ve ever had in my life. The longer you have it sit in the refrigerator, the even better and thicker it gets!
Chilled Creamy Asparagus Soup
Ingredients
- ¼ cup (57 g) unsalted butter
- 2 leeks, chopped and rinsed
- 1 medium size onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
- 3 medium-sized Idaho potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 2 bay leaves, crumbled
- 8 cups (1893 ml) vegetable stock
- 2 pounds (907 g) fresh asparagus
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ cups (355 ml) heavy cream
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a 4-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter over medium high heat.
- Add the leeks, onion, and celery and cook until tender, but not browed. Add the potatoes and bay leaves and cook for 5 minutes. Add the vegetable stock to the pot then bring the pot to a boil then simmer until potatoes are soft, about 15-20 minutes.
- While the soup is simmering, remove and discard any tough white ends of the asparagus. Wash and cut into 1-inch pieces.
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over high heat, saute the asparagus in three batches, cooking only until it turns a bright green but is still firm. Reserve the cooked asparagus on a plate then once all the asparagus has been cooked, add to the simmering soup all at once.
- Cook the soup for another 4-5 minutes, or until asparagus is just barely tender but still bright green.
- Remove the soup from the heat and carefully puree in small batches using a blender or food processor. After each batch of soup is pureed, add to a large bowl or another 4-quart saucepan. Once all the soup has been pureed, add the cream, return to heat for another 5 minutes then season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Let soup come to room temperature then place in refrigerator for at least 12 hours.
- Serve chilled.
i have been eating gazpacho but never thought about creamy asparagus soup – looks so good.
Great soup for summer!
Delicious summer soup!
Glad you weathered the storm!
I absolutely love asparagus (especially how they prepare the white asparagus, “Spargel”, in Germany), but I can honestly say I’ve never had asparagus soup. Must try (and your garnish is lovely!)!
Happy you made it through the hurricane, those are no fun!!!
I’m glad that everyone was okay! I would say that is one heck of an experience! By the way, lovin’ this creamy asparagus soup, yummy! :)
Oh man, so glad you got through the hurricane!! Yikes!
This soup is so pretty and fancy and I love that! Mmm!
This looks like the perfect Summer soup! And so pretty too!
Such & elegant & tasty looking summer soup Julie!
I am glad you survived the hurricane…I’m in FL, so I get how frightening then can be!
However, since I live in FL, that means it’s basically always to hot to eat soup ( :( )
Until now. Love this chilled version! Pinned!