• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Forager Chef

Foraging and Cooking Mushrooms, Wild and Obscure Food

  • Home
  • About
  • Mushrooms
    • Mushroom Species Archive
    • Posts by Species
      • Other
        • Lobster Mushrooms
        • Shrimp of the Woods
        • Truffles
        • Morels
        • Shaggy Mane
        • Hericium
        • Puffball
      • Polypores
        • Hen of the Woods
        • Dryad Saddle
        • Chicken of The Woods
        • Cauliflowers
        • Ischnoderma
        • Beefsteak
      • Chanterelles
        • Black Trumpet
        • Red Cinnabar
        • Yellowfeet
      • Gilled
        • Matsutake
        • Russula / Lactarius
          • Candy Caps
          • Saffron Milkcap
          • Indigo Milkcap
        • Fairy Rings
      • Boletes
        • Porcini
        • Leccinum
        • Slippery Jacks
    • Recipes
      • Fresh
      • Dried
      • Preserves
    • The Basics
  • Plants
    • Plant Archive
    • Leafy Green Recipes
      • Leafy Green Plant Varieties
    • Wild Fruit
      • Wild Plums
      • Highbush Cranberry
      • Wild Grapes
      • Rowanberries
      • Wild Cherries
      • Aronia
      • Elderberry
      • Nannyberry
      • Wild Blueberries
    • Wild Herbs and Spices
    • From The Garden
    • Nuts, Roots, Tubers and Grains
    • Stalks and Shoots
  • Meat
    • Four-Legged
    • Poultry
    • Fish/Seafood
    • Offal
    • Charcuterie
  • Recipes
    • Pickles, Preserves, Etc
    • Fermentation
    • Condiments
    • Appetizers
    • Soup
    • Salad
    • Side Dishes
    • Entrees
    • Baking
    • Sweets
  • Video
    • The Wild Harvest
    • Foraging Videos
    • Lamb and Goat Series
    • YouTube Tutorials
  • Press
    • Podcasts
  • Work
    • Public Speaking
    • Charity and Private Dinners
    • Forays / Classes / Demos

Vegan Asparagus Soup, Ramp Oil And Wild Mint

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

This is just a simple, dairy free asparagus soup, it’s a great way to use the woody ends of asparagus, which can be tricky business. Currently, I am facing a cooler filled with asparagus butts, with at least 30-60 additional pounds arriving each week. There has been asparagus puree, cold asparagus mousse for amuse bouche, asparagus broth to use as a finish for risotto, the list goes on, and on, and on.  

The best method, hands down, was a trick to make  a dairy free soup out of asparagus butts related to me by my good friend and chef de cuisine at the Bachelor Farmer, talented Chef Brett Weber. Brett made a soup using asparagus butts that included a special technique I had never thought of before: he buzzed the stems in a food processor before cooking them.  I still remember the first time I tried to make asparagus soup out of the woody ends: it turned out horribly. Buzzing the stems before cooking helps to break them down and release their liquid, it’s a really great technique.

Making a soup vegan is no easy trick either, to add even further interest, this soup is also gluten free/celiac friendly, since it uses rice (or potato) to bind the emulsion and give a creamy, smooth effect without adding dairy.

This is just a basic, brothy soup, to make it more substantial, add some cooked rice, or sauteed vegetables like fiddlehead ferns, mushrooms, peas, asparagus tips, etc. Use your imagination and add whatever fun green things you have on hand.

Vegan asparagus soup
Print Recipe
0 from 0 votes

Vegan Asparagus Soup, Ramp Oil And Wild Mint

Makes 1 qt of soup-enough for 4 people to have a small, 4 oz bowl
Course: Soup
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup fennel chopped
  • 1/2 cup yellow sweet onion chopped
  • 6 tbsp cooked white rice
  • 2 cups woody asparagus ends chopped
  • 1/4 cup flavorless oil like grapeseed
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 recipe ramp leaf oil follows
  • Small leaves of fresh herbs like wild mint chives, and chive blossoms
  • Kosher salt, to taste

Instructions

  • Shred the sliced asparagus ends in the food processor until they are broken up and no large pieces remain. Sweat the onion and the fennel in a bit of oil, a pinch of salt and a tablepoon of water. When the fennel and onion are cooked through and soft, add the asparagus and rice, then cook for a minute until the asparagus is a wilted. Add the water and bring the mixture to a boil, then turn down the heat and cook for 10 minutes on low-medium.
  • Working in two or three small batches, blend the soup, adding the flavorless oil to the blender as the mixture is pureed. (The oil "fluffs" the soup, allowing it to absorb more air and be extra creamy and light, it also helps the soup to puree finely.) Pass the soup through a fine strainer, you can press with a spoon to help the liquid pass through.
  • Season the soup with salt to taste, then put in a container and chill in an ice bath.

Plating

  • Heat the soup, whisking occasionally. Check the seasoning for salt and correct to your taste one last time if needed. Pour 1 cup into each of four heated soup bowls. Garnish with the ramp leaf oil and herbs, then serve immediately.
Print Recipe
0 from 0 votes

Ramp Leaf Oil

A deep green oil flavored with ramp or wild onion leaves
Prep Time5 mins
Cook Time1 min
Infusing Time12 hrs
Course: Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Ramp Leaf Oil, Ramp Leaves, Wild Onions
Servings: 1 cup
Author: Alan Bergo

Equipment

  • Fine strainer or cheesecloth, blender

Ingredients

  • 3 cups chopped ramp leaves
  • 1 cup mild flavored oil like canola or grapeseed
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Combine the leaves, oil and salt in a blender, then puree on high for 60 seconds. Pour the mixture into a metal bowl set above another bowl with ice cubes and a little water, and stir the oil to cool it down and preserve the color.
  • Pour the oil into a container and refrigerate overnight. The next day, pour the oil into cheesecloth set over a container, and allow it to drain naturally for a few hours.
  • Do not press or squeeze any of the solids into the oil, or you will get water and particles that will make a cloudy oil. Pour the oil into a squeeze bottle or similar container and refrigerate.
  • Do not leave the oil at room temperature or it will lose it's flavor and deteriorate. The oil will keep in the fridge for a month.

Notes

Other alliaceous plants can be used here: wild onion leaves, ramp leaves, green onion tops, a mix of onion tops and herbs like tarragon, etc.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Print
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit

Related

Previous Post: « The Leather Veiled Bolete
Next Post: Poussin With Bolete Pan Sauce »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sam

    June 27, 2013 at 10:38 am

    What if instead of straining, you puree a while in a high-speed ultra mega blender?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      June 27, 2013 at 11:56 pm

      Unfortunately I just yelled at an intern for attempting this the other day. Even with something as industrial as a vita prep or an orange julius, it will not work. This is only if you are using the woody ends however, which is what this recipe is intended for. If you want to use the soft upper ends, and save the tips for a nice garnish, a super powered blender like a vita will work. Adding oil while it is pureeing will aid in the process of making it velvety smooth.

      Reply
  2. Kelly

    August 8, 2013 at 12:59 am

    This is the most beautiful soup I’ve ever seen!

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      August 8, 2013 at 11:07 pm

      Hi Kelly, and thank you. You made my day. That soup is fun to make, and reminds me of my friend from whom I borrowed the technique.

      Reply
  3. Susan | LunaCafe

    March 2, 2015 at 10:59 am

    You had me at “asparagus butts.” 🙂 But actually even before that, because your photo is gorgeous. Love the novel ideas here as well–rice as thickener, fennel as flavor partner, ramp oil as embellishment. Superb!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Pre-Order MY BOOK

Categories

Forager Chef

Forager Chef

Instagram

foragerchef

How you turn in a culinary manuscript 🙏💫😁 How you turn in a culinary manuscript 🙏💫😁🥳 #thatsawrap #36chambersofshaolin #authorlife #trussed #givingbirth #foragerchef
Sesame enoki pancakes (think loosely bound fritter Sesame enoki pancakes (think loosely bound fritters) were a great way to use up my excess enoki stems. 

Cut them into 1 inch lengths, mix with some ground toasted sesame seed, dash of fish sauce and a good handful of culantro, rau ram, or cilantro, an egg, fry them up and dip in some zippy ponzu.

 #enoki #flammulinavelutipes #wildfoodlove #allthemushroomtags #pancakelove
Some nice wild enoki clones from @unkle_fungus Can Some nice wild enoki clones from @unkle_fungus Cant wait until these start popping up when the snow melts. The difference between the coloration of wild ones (pic 1) and cultivated that are white from the lack of sun (pic 2) is always interesting to compare. (The cultivated ones are a different species of Flammulina too). 

We’re really lucky to have such a vibrant community of small, local mushroom growers and related makers. Feel free to tag your favorite you like or one I should know about in the comments. 

#enokimushroom #mushroomgrowers #flammulinavelutipes #blanche #allthemushroomtags #wintermushrooms
Celebrated my birthday last night with a few stiff Celebrated my birthday last night with a few stiff spruce’n’sodas. The spruce tip liquor I collaborated on with @ida_graves_distillery drinks like a mildly piney gin. Dangerously easy to drink. #sprucetips #craftliquor #drinkatree #itsmybirthdaybitches #im25again
Social media can be a wall-to-wall, endless string Social media can be a wall-to-wall, endless string of triumphs. We all know reality isn’t like that, so with the snow melting here, I thought I’d share a funny maple season fail with you (at the time it was not funny).

I was making maple soda out of sap, sweetfern and syrup that I like. I’d kept the glass bottle of soda in the fridge for a couple weeks, waiting for a good time to get to it. I’d started the mother batch with a pinch of commercial champagne yeast, which is vigorous stuff. 

One night I got up and poured myself a glass of water, and sleepily forgot to close the fridge all the way, which increased the temp. A few hours later I woke up to what sounded like a grenade going off. 

The bottle exploded and the inside of the fridge, all its contents, and the floor were covered with sticky maple juice, and I spent the next two hours mopping and picking out shards of glass that had embedded themselves like shrapnel in the walls of the fridge. 

Now, I use plastic restaurant cambros to make carbonated drinks. 💫

#fermentationfails #fail #soda #fermentation #explosions #dontrythisathome
My chief editorial assistant about to do backflips My chief editorial assistant about to do backflips for smoked goat kidneys. 

If you would have asked me a few years ago if I would see myself writing recipes (and filming videos) on making dog treats I would have laughed. 

But, working with @shepherdsongfarm, trying to figure out creative, economical methods for butchery and whole carcass utilization for lamb and goat has pushed my creativity into new places. Grateful for that. 💫

If you get down on kidneys, I have a good version for humans on my site too. A good piece of charcuterie to know. 

Hand model @pgerasimo 

#grassfed #goat #eatmoregoat #kidneys #offal #dogtreats #rescuepitbull #editorialassistant
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Footer

Privacy

  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Pro & The Genesis Framework

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.