Recipe by Alby Hailes, for our Spring Gardening Series 2023.
Attempts should always be made to minimise food waste wherever possible, and this green ‘gazpacho’ (technically it isn’t really a gazpacho as there are no tomatoes in the recipe) does a brilliant job at using up those woody asparagus ends that you otherwise might throw to the compost. Store the asparagus ends in the fridge until you have enough to make this soup, or alternatively you can use the whole asparagus stalk.
Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium brown onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery (including leaves), diced
1 tsp sea salt, plus extra to taste
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp ground coriander
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
200g woody asparagus ends (or whole asparagus), diced
350g broccoli (about 1 medium), stalk and head chopped into small florets/pieces
500g potatoes (about 2 medium), peeled and chopped into 2cm pieces
750ml vegetable stock
flesh of 1 large ripe avocado
20g flat-leaf parsley leaves (about 1 large handful), roughly chopped
200ml coconut cream, plus extra to serve
½ tsp cracked black pepper
Method
Heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion, celery and 1 tsp salt, and sauté for 8 minutes until nicely softened. Add the garlic, coriander and lemon zest and cook for a further 2 minutes, tossing through. Add the asparagus ends, broccoli, potato, vegetable stock and 500ml water. Bring to the boil, then cover with a lid and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes, until the vegetables are fully tender. Remove from the heat and blitz with a stick blender (or similar) to as smooth as possible. Leave to cool at room temperature uncovered for 20 minutes, then add the avocado, parsley, coconut cream, black pepper and lemon juice. Adjust seasoning to taste with extra sea salt if needed. Blitz again with a stick blender until super smooth, then strain through a sieve (if desired) to remove any remaining lumps. Pour into a container and refrigerate until chilled. Serve the chilled gazpacho in bowls (feel free to loosen the soup with a little cold water if desired), topped with a drizzle of extra coconut cream.
