Spring in a bowl
White asparagus gazpacho features one of Spain’s most prized ingredients
Ok amigos, it’s time to get into some spring recipes, right? A few weeks ago, I shared with you a really fun variation on my wife’s gazpacho, featuring fresh cherries for DC’s cherry blossom season. This week, we are going to do something a little different with one of my favorite ingredients.
As I have said before, gazpacho is so versatile—to the point where you could turn it into a verb…”will it gazpacho?” And I’m here to tell you that many things will, so if you have access to a farmer’s market, pay attention to the change of ingredients throughout the spring and summer season, because you could have a different gazpacho every week, if you wanted to!
Today’s version is made with white asparagus—if you remember, we talked about white asparagus last year, and its season just started a couple weeks ago. While there are many beautiful colors of asparagus, my favorite is probably this one, the ghost of the asparagus family. They’re white because they’re grown underground and never see the light of day, so they never absorb chlorophyll (the chemical that otherwise makes them green) from the sun. They are harvested at night, just about when the tips start to peek out of the soil. And they’re also a bit of a ghost because their season is so short…fresh white asparagus is usually only available from April to June.
Because of the short nature of the white asparagus season, it’s common to preserve them in jars or tins so they can be enjoyed year round. Preserving white asparagus is an easy process and helps it keep that beautiful color and bittersweet flavor, and it has its own PGI (Protected Geographical Indication), D.O. Navarre, which means when you buy it, you know that what’s inside the jar is going to be the very greatest asparagus in the world.
You can probably find fresh white asparagus in the markets right now, but you can also order the D.O. Navarre jarred asparagus online, and you will love it…you can eat the stalks right from the jar, and I love to drink the liquid or use it for a martini (during the pandemic, when my daughters and I were cooking together, we invented the white asparagus martini!)
This recipe is really simple but it’s such an elegant start to a meal, or a wonderful lunch with some crusty bread. This soup is also a great use of stale bread—it gives the soup some nice body and weight.
Let me know if you make it and how you like it!
White asparagus gazpacho
Serves 4