Asparagus Soup
Serves 4

2 lbs asparagus
1 sweet onion, small dice
3 tbsp butter
6 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup creme fraiche (or an additional 1/4 cup heavy cream + 1 tbsp lemon juice)
2 tbsp lemon juice

Alright, first step is to prep the asparagus.  Start by trimming off the woodsy bottom.  The thicker the stalks are, the more you’ll have to trim.  Then cut off the spear tops about 1 1/2 inches down and halve lengthwise. If your asparagus are pencil-thin, you can skip the halving, but its a pretty touch on the larger stalks.  Set these aside in a microwave safe bowl.  Chop the remaining stalks into 1/2 inch pieces.

In a large pot over medium-high heat, saute onions in butter about 4 minutes.  Add the chopped asparagus (not the tips) and a good pinch of salt and saute an additional 4 minutes.  Add the stock and bring to a boil, then lower the heat to keep the pot at a busy simmer.  Start checking your asparagus for doneness after 15 minutes.  You want the pieces softer than you would normally cook asparagus for easy blending.  It took mine about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, add a little water to your asparagus tips, cover tightly and microwave for 2-3 minutes.  You’re looking for al dente on these guys, so go shy on the time.

Back to the stock pot!  Carefully blend the soup in batches until smooth.  If you’re looking for an extra-velvety texture, and who’s not really, take the time to strain the blended soup through a fine sieve.  It really is worth the effort. Then return the soup to the stock pot over medium heat.  Whisk in the cream, creme fraiche, and lemon juice.  Give it a taste and adjust your salt and pepper seasoning.

In a soup bowl, pile some of the steamed asparagus spears in the center, then gently ladle the soup around the outside and serve.  Et Voila!  Don’t you look like a fancy-shmancy pro?

If you’ve never heard of Columbia Restaurant, it means you haven’t spent much time in Florida.  It’s a chain of about a dozen restaurants that to my knowledge is restricted to the Sunshine State.  To be perfectly honest, it’s not a very spectacular restaurant overall.  It definitely caters to the tourists and the snow birds, and as a college student, I found it severely overpriced.

So why is it worth mentioning?  Because they have a spectacular salad on their menu, called the 1905 salad, named for the year their flagship restaurant opened in Ybor City, a district in Tampa.  The 1905 salad is Columbia’s big ta-dah, because all the servers know the recipe by heart and whip it up table-side.  This should clue you in to how simple and fast you can prepare this for a weeknight dinner.  The classic is with ham, which you can swap out for turkey or shrimp.  I like the combo of ham and turkey, but rock it out to your tastes.  Oh and did I mention it was really delicious?

Columbia Restaurant’s 1905 Salad
Makes 2 giant entree portions, or 4 appetizer/side dish portions

For the Salad:
1 small head of iceberg lettuce, chopped
2 vine ripe tomatoes, diced
1/4 lb swiss cheese, sliced extra thick and julienned
1/4 lb deli ham, sliced extra thick and julienned
1/4 lb deli turkey, sliced extra thick and julienned
1/4 cup green spanish olives, sliced
2 tbsp fresh grated romano or parmesan cheese

For the Dressing:
1/8 cup white wine vinegar
1/8 cup lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp dried oregano
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, preferably Spanish

In a large bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients except the olive oil, along with salt and a fair bit of fresh ground black pepper.  Pour in the olive oil in a slow stream, whisking vigorously until fully incorporated.  (Alternatively, you can also drop all the ingredients into the blender, or mix them quickly with an immersion blender as I did here.  The bowl-whisked dressing is traditional.)

You know the drill.  Drop all of the salad ingredients into the large bowl, coating everything in the dressing.  Portion out into serving bowls, and top with more ground pepper and romano cheese as desired.

Pre-dressing…

And yum…

This really makes for a filling, yet light dinner.  The flavors are very balanced and the dressing is super yum.  And I seriously cannot stress enough how quickly you can whip this up on a weeknight.  Enjoy everybody!  Oh, and thanks to that magazine that published this recipe which I found in that snobby coffee shop in Sarasota that I never patronized again.