On Sat, 23 Feb 2013 10:55:31 -0800, wrote:

As promised here's the recipe:
1 lb asparagus
1.5 cups chicken stock
4 tbs chopped shallots
1 cup milk or1/2 & 1/2
2.5 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
1/3 cup shelled pistachios
Salt and pepper to taste

Sounds delish already. I'll sub organic broth for the chicken stock.
Stock has about 27# of salt in it.


Throw the asparagus into a pot with 2 cups water. Cover and cook
until just tender. Pour off 1 cup water and save. Drain the asparagus
and set aside. Put 1/2 tbs butter in the pot and cook shallots until
just starting to become transparent. Put the asparagus, the reserved 1
cup of asparagus cooking water, and the chicken broth in the pot with
the shallots. Add the pistachios. Cook for a few minutes to soften the
nuts a little. Using a blender of some sort, I like stick blenders,
puree the soup. Make it as smooth as possible.

Now put the soup
through a strainer. If pureed well enough almost no fibers will be
left in the strainer. Any fibers in the soup will ruin the texture, so
strain well and re-puree if needed.

Howzbout a paint strainer funnel? works for me.


Melt the remaining butter in a
small pot, add the flour to make a roux, and cook until light brown.
Browning the roux really adds to the good flavor of the soup. Pay
attention, stirring often so it doesn't burn. Add the milk or 1/2 &
1/2 slowly using a whisk to stir so there will be no lumps. Cook until
it just comes to a boil and thickens, stirring constantly. Add to the
pureed asparagus and heat through. Serve with roasted garlic sourdough
bread.

OH, yeah!


Though I haven't tried it yet I think a little cayenne sprinkled on
top would be good.

I'll try that and cumin to see which works better.


In the interest of full disclosure you should know that my recipe
above is based on a recipe in the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, twelfth
edition, copyright 1980. I have changed it some from the book but the
basic recipe comes from the book and I need to give credit where
credit is due.
Speaking of cookbooks, I have several because I like to cook and
I'm the cook in our house. And the Fannie Farmer Cookbook is one of my
favorites. I actually have two different editions and they differ from
each other in many ways.

I'm single. I do all my own cooking, too.

--
Progress is the product of human agency. Things get better because
we make them better. Things go wrong when we get too comfortable,
when we fail to take risks or seize opportunities.
-- Susan Rice