Salmon and Cold Asparagus Soup

We had quite a bit of asparagus left over from our sushi night. The reason for this was because I was concerned  about one of D's friends who was coming to our dinner party who is vegan. For some reason, this made me believe that we needed tons of asparagus (because, clearly, all vegans love and eat tons of asparagus).

I love asparagus myself, so having too much of it was not necessarily a bad thing, it just meant that it needed to be used. So, I got a little creative with our leftovers and developed a tasty asparagus soup. To go with it, I made some salmon.

Many of D and my recipes are complicated and take time. This one, however, does not. The soup takes approximately 20 minutes and the salmon takes about 5 minutes to prep and 35 minutes to bake in the oven. The other thing that is so great about this recipe is that it is not expensive to make. So, this is definitely one that you should try at home. The amounts below sufficed for D and I, and I had leftovers for lunch the following day.  Recipe and photos below.

Disclaimer: I do not believe in measuring, or even making a recipe using the entire ingredient list. Use what you have and the amount you think you will like. The measurements below are an approximate, because to be honest, I just add an ingredient until I like how it tastes.

Asparagus soup:
asparagus (1-2 lbs)
chicken stock (2.5 cups) (chicken bouillon cubes also work fine)
1 clove garlic
sour cream (1/2 cup)
1/2 onion
lemon juice
paprika
olive oil
salt
pepper

Chop the asparagus and onion into small pieces; throw out the hard, woody ends of the asparagus. Cook the rest of the asparagus and onion with a little bit of olive oil on the stove top for approximately 15 minutes. If you are using chicken bouillon cubes, prepare the chicken broth. Add some of the asparagus and some of the chicken broth into a blender and mix. Add these two ingredients together until they are blended together. Add 1/2 cup sour cream to the mixture and blend. Insert 1 clove garlic into the blender, along with lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste. When blended together, pour in a bowl and refrigerate overnight. Serve with fresh lemon juice, extra sour cream, and some paprika or parsley sprinkled on top.

Salmon:
1 lb salmon
1/2 cup brown sugar
lemon juice
2 tbs butter

Cut the salmon into individual portions, remove skin if necessary. Preheat oven to 375. Add approximately 2 tbs lemon juice into the container you plan on cooking the salmon, sprinkle brown sugar. Put the salmon into the container and cover with 2 tbs melted butter. Cook for 15 minutes, flip salmon over and sprinkle with a bit more brown sugar, add lemon slices to the top of the salmon if desired, and cook 15 more minutes.

Photos: