Vous avez dit vert? Velouté d’asperges au crabe

soupaspergecrab4

You can tell it’s crab season, many supermarkets in San Francisco are filled with the most beautiful crabs, Kings crab legs, full crabs. There is nothing better to eat than seasonal products, you get very “meaty” legs, full and flavorful. Since I was in the mood for crab for quite some time, I bought about 2 pounds of those beautiful legs.

Crab’s delicate flesh is delicious in fruity salads, seafood pasta, soups, etc…I had 2 bunches of asparagus left in the refrigerator that were just ready to be consumed, I figured, let’s combine the two and make it a creamy asparagus velouté topped with crab meat.

Velouté in French describes blended soups enriched with eggs and cream, mine does not contain any of those two.  Sometime I like to keep it lighter, I still call it a velouté because of its velvety texture.

Besides the two ingredients are just a perfect match, the green topped with orange is an indescribable display of colors, not to mention the subtle and delicate texture of the asparagus combined with crab.

For 4 people:

  • 1 ½  bunch asparagus, cut in 1 ½ inches  pieces
  • 2 King crab legs
  • Vegetable broth, the quantity of broth needs to cover the asparagus/potato mixture by an inch.
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 medium potato, diced
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • Crème fraiche or heavy cream (optional)
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

For the asparagus strips used for decoration, leave aside 2 or 3 asparagus, and using a peeler, slice lengthwise. Place in boiling water for a few seconds. Drain and place in cold water. The cold water will keep them crunchy and green.

In a pot, add olive oil, when oil is hot add the onions, brown for about 10 minutes, then add the crushed garlic, stir for about 30 seconds, then add the potatoes and asparagus. Mix well for about 5 minutes, then add broth, salt and pepper.  Cover and let simmer at medium heat for about 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Remove crab meat from its shell and set aside.

When the soup is cooked, put in blender, and mix to a creamy consistence. Put back in the pan, and add some crab meat. Leave some for the decoration. Heat up.  You add the cream at this point, if you’d like to. I didn’t put any cream in mine and kept it lighter, since the asparagus make a naturally think and velvety soup.  Top with the remaining crab meat, add the asparagus strips and serve hot.