| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 35 min |
| Active: | 10 min |
| Yield: | About 4 cups |
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup diced pancetta
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced onions
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
- 3 cloves garlic, whole
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 cups chicken stock, plus more if needed
- 1 cup small pieces country bread
- 2 teaspoons fresh tarragon leaves
- 2 cups 1-inch-long chopped asparagus
- 2 cups spinach, washed
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- Chives, chopped, for garnish
- Creme fraiche or sour cream, for garnish
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, sweat the pancetta with the olive oil until crispy and fully rendered, 5 minutes. Remove the pancetta from the pan and set aside. Add the onions, shallots and garlic. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Once the aromatics are soft, about 5 minutes, add the stock, bread and tarragon. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the asparagus and spinach. Simmer until the asparagus is tender, about 15 minutes.
- Transfer the contents to a blender, and make sure you’ve added enough stock to achieve the desired consistency. Blend the soup and season with the lemon juice. Adjust the salt and pepper as necessary. If available, strain through a fine mesh strainer. This soup can be served hot or chilled.
- Serve with the crispy pancetta, chopped chives and a dollop of creme fraiche. If serving cold, additional chicken stock may be necessary to make sure the consistency is correct.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 200 |
| Total Fat | 13 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Carbohydrates | 14 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 5 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Cholesterol | 8 mg |
| Sodium | 592 mg |
Reviews
Best asparagus soup ever. Only one substitution – basil instead of tarragon, which is my least favorite herb. JZ is one of those chefs who makes things that everyone wants to eat. Refined enough for my foodie daughters but still appealing to my fussy husband. On the Pirog family permanent rotation.
I used 2 pounds of asparagus and heavy whipping cream instead of bread. Bacon because that’s what I had.
It was great. I am not familiar with tarragon so that flavor was good just different. I would use caution with kids or a picky eater. Again, fabulous.
I knew this would be good! I usually follow the recipe exactly the 1st time. However, I’m overly sensitive to the taste of spinach, so – I used 5 ounces of frozen, thawed & squeezed dry. I also like my soups a little thicker than most and added another 1/2 slice of bread. Turned out perfect! Thanks !
Best asparagus soup recipe I have ever made. I love the traditional recipe best, but when going low carb I omit the bread for and extra cup of asparagus, and also add 1/2 cup of whipped cream at the end.
This is the 5th recipe by GZ I’ve made, and I appreciate how he really gives us quality recipes and instruction. I look forward to every time I try a new recipe from him!
Delicious and healthy. This is a great way to use pieces of asparagus….you can save the tips for later eating. Easy to make and ingredients are probably in your pantry!
Made this soup on a week night. It was nice and easy to put together. Great for a rainy day when you don’t want to put much effort into dinner. Soup was very flavorful, served with a nice loaf of bread. Next time I would simplify and use bacon rather than buying pancetta just for this recipe. I would definitely make again.
I had just made a salad that included shaved asparagus and used the pieces I had left for this soup. I made no changes to the recipe and the soup is so delicious.
I just finished making this soup and cannot imagine it being any better than it already is! We will see what happens tonight at dinner when we top with the pancetta, creme fraiche & chives from our garden! I have to say this recipe is in the top 10 of the best things I have ever tasted!
One thing I need to say though is on the television show, Geoffrey Zakarian talked of using the asparagus ends & the peels (which is NOT noted in this recipe)! I broke the ends off of around 2lb of fresh asparagus, trimmed the super woody part & simmered them in some organic chicken stock until they were tender enough to use for this recipe. At the same time, I roasted around 30 pieces of asparagus in the oven with EVOO and garlic.
I used an organic sourdough roll for the bread and before I blended this recipe, I tasted the stock and it was fabulous. I put stems of tarragon in while simmering and removed before blending. I used 5 cloves of garlic and a little extra shallot! OMGoodness -heaven.
This soup is REALLY good, even after I played with the recipe (which I do because recipes to me are more of a “guideline.”) I left out the bread, pancetta, lemon juice, and scallions and used dried tarragon instead of fresh. So I sautéd the onions, added the garlic and dried tarragon along with the asparagus pieces, salt and pepper in a little bacon fat & butter. When the asparagus had some color, I added the broth and spinach. Covered and cooked until the asparagus was tender. Took it off the heat and let it cool a bit. Ladled it into the Blendtec and let it go to town! No need to strain. Topped it with a little sour cream. It’s very thick and very hearty. I might try adding a little white wine or maybe a splash of cream next time.