asparagus and white bean soup with lemon and parmesan

Farming is such a trip. One moment you can literally be laughing, dancing, and high-fiving your fellow farmer. The next minute the weather forecast changes and you scramble, you curse, and you do what all farmers must do when the weather takes a turn for the chilly side. You cover your crops.

We have our first round of tomatoes, summer squash, and peppers outside. We plant them into black plastic so the soil temperature stays warm and we can run a drip line to irrigate. It’s exciting to finally have these guys out of the greenhouse and into the ground. However, with the chilly weather that has greeted us we must take action.  We’ve managed to not kill our tomatoes yet, and we will be damned if we let a few chilly nights rain on our parade.

It has sort of turned into a joke that whenever we need to put row cover on our crops the wind picks up and makes it a totally miserable and difficult task. I’ve been known to shed a few tears on particularly windy days when the task seems impossible and never ending. Not to mention that I have almost blown away with the row cover many times. It’s quite the ordeal. However, recently I’ve accepted the fact that it’s going to suck and I just go with it. Don’t mind the pissed off look on my face. Taylor took this picture right after he asked me if I was having fun. At least I’m not crying!

Once our tomatoes were tucked in for the night my mood immediately improved. We put our shovels away and called it a day. Asparagus and white bean soup was on the agenda. And hey, we needed to warm up too!

This soup is lovely. There are very few ingredients and the combination of asparagus and lemon works really well here. We gobbled it up.

Asparagus and White Bean Soup with Lemon and Parmesan (serves 4) As always taste test as you go and adjust seasonings to your liking.

2 TBS olive oil

1 bunch of asparagus, tough ends removed and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 large yellow onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

4 cups vegetable stock, add more if soup is too thick

1 14.5 ounce can of organic navy beans, drained and rinsed

2 TBS fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

Parsley for garnish

Directions:

In a large soup pot heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and asparagus and cook for about 3 more minutes stirring occasionally. Add veggie stock and beans. Bring to a light boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer and simmer for about 20 minutes. Carefully with an immersion blender or regular blender puree the soup. If soup is too thick add a little more stock or water. Stir in lemon juice, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

Serve warm with parmesan cheese, parsley and crusty bread for dunking. Enjoy!