Cold Asparagus Soup with a hint of Dijon

Raw asparagus is something that Dan and I both like. It doesn’t hurt that is also known to inhibit cancer cell growth. In the spring we eat a lot of asparagus. Today we thought it would make a nice soup. As usual we used raw cashews to stand in for the cream. I added a little Dijon for a subtle background flavor. Morels were used for garnish because Dan loves morels, they are a spring fungus and they go well with asparagus. Here is what I did.

Cold Asparagus Soup with a hint of Dijon
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, finely minced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
¼ cup water
½ cup raw cashews
1 cup water, or what is necessary to process the soup
2 pounds asparagus
1 – 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
4 dried morel mushrooms, for garnish
Water to soften the morels
Salt or lemon zest for garnish - optional

Directions:

Sauté the onions and garlic in water until soft and water has mostly evaporated.

While the onions are softening remove the stringy ends from the asparagus and discard. Remove the tips and save for garnish. Cut the remaining asparagus stems thinly and place them in your blender. By cutting the asparagus thinly you should be able to avoid needing to sieve the soup. Add the cooked onions and garlic to the blender with the water, raw cashews and Dijon. Process until smooth. Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper as necessary. Refrigerate the soup and asparagus tips until serving.

Meanwhile place the morels and a little water in a microwave safe bowl and heat until the water is beginning to simmer. The morels will be soft enough to slice thinly in about 30 minutes, but soaking them longer is also fine. These are used for garnish.

To plate the soup top with reserved asparagus spears, morel slices and finish with a little salt or lemon zest (if desired).

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 133.55
Calories From Fat (36%) - 48.61

Total Fat - 5.86g
Saturated Fat - 1.05g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 172.47mg
Potassium - 604.36mg
Total Carbohydrates - 16.75g
Fiber - 6.03g
Sugar - 6.28g
Protein - 8.04g

Comments:

This is a lovely light soup. Perfect for when the weather is beginning to turn warm are you are thinking of shorts and bathing suits. This soup has a very light flavor, but one that we enjoy. If you wanted to make something bolder I have made it with a touch of horseradish and that was also good, but very different. This soup is also nice with a dollop of tofu sour cream or silken tofu and tahini sauce.

Unrelated note:

When the weather turns warm my cooking tends to become lighter and more raw. In the middle of summer almost everything I make will be chilled. I don’t enjoy hot food very much in the summer time. This year I plan to try to live seasonally by minimizing our use of air conditioning and eating cool and cold food. We will see how long this lasts. I tend to be a bit of creature comfort seeker. But I am determined so we will see how long I make it.

This will be the last post tonight. Time to start winding down for the evening and get my tasks outlined for tomorrow. I will be back as soon as I have time to come up for air. Talk to you all again soon.

Asparagus topped with Pineapple Salsa made with Pomegranate Molasses

If you have been reading my blog for a while you know we have a favorite local restaurant that just happens to be in our neighborhood, we are so lucky. The chef is a sweetheart and always volunteers to make special low fat vegan meals just for us, but that is such an imposition I hate to let him do that since there are things we can eat on the menu. One of our favorite items is the asparagus with pineapple salsa with pomegranate molasses, which I posted here. Both the hubby and I love this dish. Tonight I decided to make my own version of the dish.

I could have asked the chef what was in his version but that would take the fun out of experimenting. Instead I turned to “The Professional Chef” since I remembered they had a recipe for a pineapple salsa on fish. I substituted some of the lime juice for pomegranate molasses as I assume Ian did. My pomegranate molasses is crazy thick so I thinned it out with a little lemon juice. I added thin radish matchsticks, because I could (no other reason). Both the version in the cookbook and at the restaurant had a fresh herb (basil in the book), which I didn’t have, so I left it out. Here is what I did.

Asparagus topped with Pineapple Salsa made with Pomegranate Molasses
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 pound of asparagus, tough ends removed
1 inch slice of fresh pineapple (about ½ cup when diced)
¼ red onion, finely diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
6 radishes, trimmed and cup into fine julienne
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon lemon juice, fresh
kosher salt, to taste
black pepper, freshly ground, to taste

Directions:

Cook the asparagus until tender crisp and set aside. The original recipe grilled the asparagus, however I steamed them instead.

Grill the pineapple until there is a little char on each side, which will take approximately 2 minutes. Then set the pineapple aside until cool enough to handle. When cool cut into approximately ½ inch dice or larger (removing the core).

Combine the pineapple, onion, jalapeno, radish, pomegranate molasses and lemon juice and thoroughly combine.

Top the asparagus with the pineapple salsa and serve warm or cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 193.3
Calories From Fat (2%) - 2.97

Total Fat - 0.4g
Saturated Fat - 0.1g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 8.14mg
Potassium - 543.33mg
Total Carbohydrates - 46.7g
Fiber - 5.92g
Sugar - 26.88g
Protein - 5.54g

Comments:

Both the hubby and I thought this was very close to Ian’s version. Including the fresh basil would definitely have made it better. I also think there may be a little fresh minced ginger in the restaurant version. Not much ginger, just a hint (maybe a quarter teaspoon), which I am going to try next time. Overall, I was quite pleased with how this turned out and we will be having this again soon. It is a very quick and flavorful vegetable dish.

I served this tonight with a steam/baked seitan cutlet and that was dinner. We finished our meal with a green tea, fresh ginger and vitamin C nightcap followed by a green drink chaser and that was it for us tonight.

I hope everyone has a great evening. Tomorrow I will post seitan recipes. With my headache today I didn’t get as much accomplished, as I intended. Oh well, stuff happens. Tomorrow is another day.

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.

Bulgur and Vegetable Salad

I love a cold grain and vegetable salad. This one combines the benefits of whole grain with added nutrition from the raw vegetables. This salad is packed with vegetables and flavor. It has a little heat from the hot crushed peppers and flavor from the lemon juice and zest. The crunch of the cold vegetables add a nice textural counterpoint to the cooked grain.

Bulgur and Vegetable Salad
Serves 8 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups of bulgur, uncooked
4 cups of water
½ teaspoon of kosher salt
2 lemons, juice and zest
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 cup of edamame, shelled
1 seedless cucumber, cut into quarters lengthwise and then sliced
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
2 carrots, grated
2 tablespoons of hot crushed peppers
½ teaspoon of dulse granules
1 pound of raw asparagus, sliced fine
½ pound of sugar snap peas, sliced

Directions:

Cook bulgur in water with salt in a covered pan until water is absorbed (about 20 minutes on medium heat). Add lemon juice, lemon zest and olive oil to warm bulgur. When salad has cooled, add the prepared vegetables and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 205.31
Calories From Fat (14%) - 29.71

Total Fat - 3.46g
Saturated Fat - 0.49g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 148.35mg
Potassium - 589.13mg
Total Carbohydrates - 38.44g
Fiber - 10.82g
Sugar - 5.49g
Protein - 9.15g

Comments:

This salad has a little heat from the hot crushed peppers, and plenty of flavor. It travels well, and makes a great lunch with some raw baby spinach, broccoli sprouts and sunflower seeds. I added the spinach and broccoli sprouts for the additional cancer fighting benefits.

Shaved Asparagus with Lemon Vinaigrette and Almond Feta

I was looking for another way to use fresh asparagus and decided to try to shave it and see how that worked in a salad. The texture is nice, but this is a time consuming salad.

The sun-dried tomatoes are included for their lycopene and cancer fighting abilities. The pine nuts and almond feta were added to provide healthy fat and textural variation.

This a nice combination of flavors that I will be using again in the future.

Shaved Asparagus with Lemon Vinaigrette and Almond Feta
Makes 4 appetizer salad servings

Ingredients:

1 lemon, juiced and finely zested
2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, grated
salt and pepper, to taste
1 pound of asparagus, tips removed and stems shaved with a vegetable peeler
2 tablespoons of almond feta
2 sun-dried tomatoes, julienned
2 teaspoons of pine nuts, toasted
4 cups of mesclun greens

Directions:

Make the lemon vinaigrette by whisking together the lemon juice, olive oil, lemon zest, and garlic. Add salt and pepper to the vinaigrette to taste.

Trim about an inch of the woody ends from asparagus. Trim the last few inches of the asparagus with a vegetable peeler, if it is tough. Cut the tips of the asparagus and put them into the vinaigrette. Using the same peeler, turn the asparagus stems into asparagus fettuccini shapes.

Put the asparagus in the vinaigrette and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

When ready to serve remove the asparagus from the storage container. Toss the greens in the vinaigrette left in the bottom of the storage container. Place the greens on a salad plate and top with a mound of the shaved asparagus. Top the salad with the asparagus tips. Crumble the almond feta on top. Decorate with a few sun-dried tomato slivers and sprinkle the pine nuts on top.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 75.05
Calories From Fat (50%) - 37.44

Total Fat - 4.35g
Saturated Fat - 0.52g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 120.09mg
Potassium - 385.82mg
Total Carbohydrates - 7.79g
Fiber - 3.71g
Sugar - 2.88g
Protein - 3.76g

Comments:

This salad has a great taste, but it is a little bit too time consuming to make if you are in a rush to get dinner on the table.

Shaving the asparagus with a potato peeler works even though it takes a while. I will be saving this technique for special occasions, or when I have a lot of time in the kitchen. To make the asparagus easier to shave buy only the largest asparagus you can find. They are much easier to handle. Also the technique works better if you start at the bottom of the asparagus and peel toward where the tip should be.

On the other hand the flavors were great together and would make a nice topping for a cracker, pasta or pizzette.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Asparagus and Breadcrumbs

When spring arrives so does the local asparagus. I always looking for different ways to use asparagus when it is in season. Since I love pasta, pairing it with asparagus makes sense in my house. Isn't everything improved when you pair it with pasta?

The breadcrumb topping is something that I do frequently. Traditionally southern Italians use toasted bread crumbs instead of cheese. I like the textural variation that the bread crumbs bring to pasta dishes. If you want the flavor to more closely resemble cheese add a tablespoon or two of nutritional yeast. In this dish I didn't want the yeast to overpower the light flavor of asparagus or the pine nuts which are the stars of the dish.

This recipe makes a nice one dish meal for days when you don't want to make multiple dishes for dinner.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Asparagus and Breadcrumb
Serves 4 as a main dish

Ingredients:

13.25 ounces whole wheat spaghetti
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced or grated
1.5 - 2 lbs of fresh asparagus, cut into bite size pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
Zest from 1 lemon
Lemon wedges, for serving - optional

Directions:

Over medium heat toast whole wheat panko in olive oil until lightly brown. Then add pine nuts and garlic and continue to toast until pine nuts are lightly brown but garlic is soft (be careful not to burn the garlic which makes it very bitter).

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Add the asparagus to the pasta cooking water during the last 3 minutes of cooking. Toss the pasta, asparagus and parsley with the breadcrumbs. Check the pasta for salt and pepper, adjust as necessary. Plate the pasta and grate the fresh lemon zest on top. Serve with lemon wedges if desired. If you use the lemon juice you can reduce the salt in the dish.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 517.48
Calories From Fat (21%) - 106.92
Total Fat - 12.47g
Saturated Fat - 1.01g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 111.56mg
Potassium - 457.84mg
Total Carbohydrates - 88.44g
Fiber - 16.09g
Sugar - 7.77g
Protein - 19.22g

Comments:

I tend to make one dish pasta meals during the week. This is one of those dishes that makes a great dinner when accompanied by a salad. The toasted bread crumbs add a nice crunchy textural variation with the soft pasta. I love the nice nuttiness you get from toasted pine nuts. They add a surprising amount of a flavor to this dish. This is nice light dish to serve when the weather is starting to get warmer but you want pasta for dinner.

Asparagus Bites with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Sherry Vinegar

Asparagus is high in vitamin K and folate. If you are taking a blood thinner you should check with your doctor before adding asparagus to your diet.

Folate is important for cardiovascular health. Without folate the body cannot convert homocysteine into cysteine. High homocysteine levels are associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis. One serving of asparagus daily supplies 2/3’s of the daily recommended amount of folate.

Asparagus also contains inulin, which our body cannot digest. However, the good bacteria in our digestive system can digest inulin. The presence of inulin causes an increase in the population of good bacteria, leaving less room for the bad bacteria. This is thought to cause a corresponding increase in our immune function.

There are many reasons to eat your asparagus, in addition to the fact that they taste good.

Asparagus Bites with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Sherry Vinegar
makes 8 small servings

Ingredients:

2 pounds of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 ½ inch lengths
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup of sun dried tomatoes, diced
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Saute the asparagus in olive oil for 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, and sherry vinegar and cook one minute longer. Add salt and pepper to taste and refrigerate if not eating immediately. Serve cold, warm or hot.

Comments:

This makes a nice side dish and is good on a green salad, or tossed with a cooked grain like brown rice, bulgur or millet. It is also good with a little fresh lemon zest.

Millet and Raw Asparagus Salad

We eat a lot of salads in our house. I am always looking for new ways to add vegetables to our diet. Asparagus is something that we eat a lot in the spring. Typically we eat our asparagus lightly cooked. Today I wanted to try something with raw asparagus that became the starting point for this salad. As usual I wanted the salad to be filled with healthful ingredients. I have outlined the benefits of the major salad ingredients below.

Millet is a whole grain that is a good source of vitamin K and magnesium. Vitamin K is necessary for normal blood clotting. Magnesium has been shown to lower high blood pressure and to reduce the severity of asthma and the frequency of migraine headaches.

Asparagus is high in folate, which is essential for cardiovascular health. Asparagus also contains inulin, which the human body cannot digest but the good bacterium in our digestive tracts does. When the good bacteria in our digest system thrives there is less room for the bad bacteria.

The raw red onion is high in chromium that helps the body to respond appropriately to insulin. Regular consumption of onion has been shown to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol. The antioxidant quercitin that is found in raw red onion has been shown to halt the growth of tumors in animals. A number of studies have also shown that those populations that consume the most onions also exhibit a lower incidence of all types of cancer.

This salad incorporates a number of healthful ingredients and tastes great too. This middle eastern inspired salad may become a regular on your spring table.

Millet and Raw Asparagus Salad
makes 6 dinner servings

Ingredients:

1 cup of millet
2 ½ cups of water
¼ teaspoon of salt
½ red onion, diced finely (approximately ¼ inch)
12 ounces fresh asparagus, but into 1/8 inch rounds
zest and juice of two lemons
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon of harissa
1 teaspoon of sumac

Optional Ingredients:

¼ cup olives, diced
¼ cup fresh parsley, minced

Directions:

Combine millet, water and salt and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Then turn off heat and allow millet to stand undisturbed for 10 minutes.

Combine lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, Harissa, and sumac and stir to combine. Add diced onion and asparagus to the dressing and toss to coat. Add cooked millet to dressed vegetables and toss to coat. If you choose you can add diced olive and parsley at this point in the recipe. Stir salad to evenly distribute these into the mix. Store salad in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to combine. Serve cold over field greens or mesclun mix. If desired garnish with chopped olives and minced parsley.

Comments:

This salad is lemony and fresh. It has a hint of heat in the background. If you like heat you can safely double the amount of harissa in the recipe. If you don’t eat raw asparagus you should give this salad a try. I love the slightly crunchy texture of the asparagus and raw onion that is contrasted to the softness of the cooked millet. The cold salad is a nice counterpoint to the heat from the harissa in the background. Next time I may add chopped walnuts to this salad for a little additional texture.

Ramps and a Walnut Sauce for Pasta

What are ramps? Ramps are a type of broad leaf wild leek that grows in Appalachia, and probably elsewhere. They have a very strong onion flavor and should be used judiciously. Ramps are beloved by chefs and foodies in our area. They hold festivals to celebrate the ramp in many cities within an hour of where we live. Ramps are one of the first signs of spring in the mid-Atlantic area and they are at Whole Foods now. Since we have ramps, I thought they would be great in a spring pasta dish and decided to create a quick and easy pasta dish that had a creamy comfort sauce.

All nuts can be used to make a nice creamy sauce. I choose walnuts because of the recent news that came out of the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research that suggests eating 2 ounces of walnuts per day may help ward off breast cancer. Prior studies have also suggested that eating walnuts may help undo the damage unhealthy fats do to our arteries. With these health benefits you can feel better about feeding this “cream” sauce to your family.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Asparagus and Ramps in Walnut Sauce
Makes 2 dinner servings



Ingredients:

½ cup of walnuts
1 cup of water/pinot grigio or vegetable broth
½ teaspoon of kosher salt
¼ teaspoon of garlic powder
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
¼ pound of ramps, finely sliced
10 – 12 ounces of fresh asparagus, cut into 1 inch segments
8 ounces of whole wheat spaghetti
1 tablespoon of fresh parsley, minced
1 tablespoon of walnuts, finely chopped

Directions:

Cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted water for 2 minutes less than the package directions.

While the water is coming to a boil put the walnuts, water, salt, garlic powder and cornstarch in a blender and process until the sauce is completely smooth. Pour the sauce into a large skillet (big enough to handle the pasta and sauce) and heat over medium heat while whisking until the sauce begins to thicken. Turn off the heat and prep the ramps and asparagus.

When the water comes to the boil and pasta has begun to cook turn the heat back to medium on the saucepan. Add a few tablespoons of water to the sauce and continue to whisk until the consistency is how you like it. Add the veggies to the sauce when the pasta is five minutes from being removed from the heat. Add the almost cooked pasta to the sauce and veggies and toss to coat. Add more pasta water as is necessary to form a nice sauce. Cook the pasta and veggies for two minutes to finish the cooking of the pasta during which time it will absorb some of the sauce.

Garnish the pasta dish with freshly minced parsley and chopped walnuts and serve.

Comments:

This is a very mild sauce with a subtle garlic flavor. I wanted the sauce to be mild so the light flavor of the asparagus would not be overwhelmed by both the sauce and the little bites of ramp. I wouldn't add any more ramp due to their strong flavor. There were just enough of the ramp to taste them, without them taking over the dish. Next time I may add some fresh morels or fiddleheads to this dish.