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1
Melt the butter in a pan big enough to cook the soup.
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2
Saute the onions for a few minutes, until transparent but not brown.
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3
Meanwhile, slice the asparagus into thin slices.
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4
Now add the sliced asparagus pieces to the onions and continue to saute (over medium to medium-high heat) for 15 minutes, until most of the moisture has steamed out of the asparagus and the mixture has just barely started to brown.
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5
Add the flour to the onion/asparagus mixture and stir well to coat each piece with some flour.
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6
Cook for 2 or 3 more minutes over medium-high heat.
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7
Dump the boiling water into the asparagus mixture.
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8
Add the (optional) chicken broth and the salt.
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9
Simmer for 1 hour.
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10
Strain out the cooked asparagus, leaving behind a thin yellow -green soup.
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11
Thicken the soup with the 2 egg yolks.
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12
Add the milk and reheat the soup to serving temperature.
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13
Add salt and fresh-ground white pepper to taste.
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14
Serve immediately.
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15
NOTES: * A light and simple asparagus soup -- Every summer, it seems, the grocery stores are glutted with cheap asparagus.
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16
Most of the classical recipes for asparagus soup produce a hearty winter-style soup.
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17
Here's a simple recipe for a delicious, light, thin soup that is more in keeping with the time of the year that the glut occurs.
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18
You can leave out the chicken broth to make it a meatless soup, but it does require egg yolks.
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19
You can use a food mill, a china cap, or an ordinary sieve to strain the cooked asparagus out of the broth.
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20
It will taste like dishwater if you cook the asparagus for an hour without salt.
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21
Don't try to skimp on time by leaving the cooked asparagus in the broth unstrained.
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22
It will ruin the texture.
