Spring
is still springing, and I can’t stop thinking about green, and bright
things, like sunshine. I realized last week that I hadn’t had nearly
enough asparagus this spring, and was fixing to just get some and roast
it, when I met some friends at a local watering hole with nibbles on the
menu, saw a chilled asparagus ricotta soup on the menu and promptly
failed to order it. I mean...what was I thinking? Huge fail. I should
probably also add that sometime in the past month I also developed an
overwhelming, inexplicable, and insatiable craving for ricotta. Double
what was I thinking, right?
Not
ordering it was probably the best thing I did all month. Why? Because
I had to have it, guys. I just had to. You know how it is! I
promptly started recipe plotting in the background of my life, and
realized that this recipe would be a real winner. It is super easy. It
is super quick. It is super simple. It is (probably) super healthy, being comprised primarily of vegetables. And, amigos, it is a super
celebration of a lot of the things that are the most delicious parts of
spring: the green colors, the bright flowers, the sunshine, the spring
vegetables, the crisp and warming air, the ricotta (okay, fine, this one
is an every season thing).
Prep
probably takes longer than cooking (if you have maybe just tripped over
a root while on a run, skinned your hand, and rage cried your pain out
in a public place; this will, I assure you, slow things down
considerably), but the rest of the process is probably a 30 minute
cooking and blending window. If you are a fast chopper, you’ll probably
disagree with the previous statement. All in all, I give it an over
under of about an hour well spent on the road to springtime delight.
The best part? This soup tastes great hot or cold. That is to say, it
is a rare soup that tastes the same hot or cold. It just depends on
how you want to eat it! Options!
I
have only two other tips besides be careful out there runners; roots
can be real witches with a b. Tip the first is to start with 5 cups
broth, and add a bit more, up to 6 cups if you feel you need it for the
soup to blend well, or want it to be more liquid than solid. Tip the
second? I used store bought ricotta. If you use fresh ricotta, I have a
sneaking suspicion this will blow your mind. If you are able to use
fresh, and then are able to form a sentence, do tell me if my suspicions
are sound. Bueno?
Asparagus, Ricotta, and Lemon Soup
