Welcome in the verdant asparagus and pea season with this light, refreshing and nutritious soup recipe.
It's incredibly easy to make and features fresh asparagus, frozen peas (to help keep costs down), spring onions, fresh mint, and fragrant truffle oil (if you like).
It's all blitzed down into a smooth and creamy soup and makes a lovely starter option when served at a dinner party or even as a light midweek meal option with a crunchy bread roll.
Add a drizzle of decadence with truffle oil at the end if you like and serve with a chilled white wine for a perfect drinks pairing to match.
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Yields:
8 serving(s)
Prep Time:
30 mins
Cook Time:
30 mins
Total Time:
1 hr
Cal/Serv:
283
Ingredients
400g
fine asparagus, woody ends discarded
75g
unsalted butter
1
kg frozen peas
6
spring onions, finely sliced
1l
hot vegetable stock
small bunch mint, leaves picked
150g
creme fraiche, plus extra to serve
truffle oil, to drizzle
Directions
1 Trim asparagus into 2.5cm (1in) pieces and separate the tips. Melt butter in a large pan and fry tips and a handful of the peas until tender, about 3min. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside to use as garnish. 2 Return pan to heat and add spring onions and remaining asparagus pieces and fry for 3-5min until softened. Add remaining peas and stock, bring to the boil, then simmer for 7-8min. 3 Add mint and carefully blend until velvety smooth. 4 Reheat soup, if needed, and stir in the crème fraîche. Check seasoning. Ladle into warmed bowls and garnish with crème fraîche, the reserved asparagus and peas and a swirl of truffle oil, if using.
Get ahead: To keep soup vibrant, prepare to end of step 3 up to 3hr ahead. Set aside, along with the covered veg garnish. If vibrancy not an issue, soup can be made up to a day ahead. Cool, cover and chill. Complete recipe to serve, reheating the veg garnish in a small frying pan.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
