Cold Asparagus Bisque

I started reading the most recent book by Dr. Joel Fuhrman today “Eat for Health”. The item that struck me as being the most profound thus far is the concept of how proper chewing is necessary to get all the nutrition from food. The doctor goes on to explain that few people chew their food sufficiently.

In this book Dr. Fuhrman introduced the concept of “blended salads” which is exactly what it sounds like, raw vegetables pureed in the blender. The idea behind blended salads is that the blender does the work for you so that all the nutrition is available to the body. This concept led me to think of what I had in the house that would be good in the blender and this soup is what I made for dinner tonight.

I like that this soup is rich and creamy, but the richness doesn’t come from an unhealthy fat. Raw cashews are something I use frequently when I am trying to achieve a “dairy like” richness. The raw garlic was included for flavor, but also for its cancer fighting potential.

Cold Asparagus Bisque
Makes 2 main dish servings of about 3 cups each

Ingredients:

2 pounds of raw asparagus, cut into large chunks
½ cup of raw cashews
2 cups of filtered water
1 - 2 cloves of garlic, raw (depending on how much you like garlic)
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Place everything in the blender and puree until uniformly smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve, pour into chilled bowls and top with kosher salt and pepper.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 227.56
Calories From Fat (40%) - 91.25

Total Fat - 10.99g
Saturated Fat - 2.04g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 160.72mg
Potassium - 1092.47mg
Total Carbohydrates - 26.02g
Fiber - 10.48g
Sugar - 9.96g
Protein - 14.54g

Comments:

This soup is creamy and yet light. The raw asparagus flavor is a little “grassy” but I in what I would call a good way. I found the soup to be refreshing and perfect for a warm summer night.