Roasted Asparagus Soup with Lovage & Dill

Author Notes

When we moved to our current house 33 years ago, the backyard was a flatland save for two sticks that called themselves trees, a three-foot lilac bush and a small, 4 by 10 empty garden plot. My Dad, an avid gardener, came over armed with cuttings from his herb garden: thyme, sage, chives, garlic chives, oregano, and lovage. He told me that the lovage would give me years of wonderful celery flavor for soups and stews and would grow like a bush every year. Well, all these years later, the two sticks are over fifty feet tall, the lilac is huge, and the lovage comes back every year. —inpatskitchen

Test Kitchen Notes

This is a nice spring soup, was fresh and the flavors all came together effortlessly. Because of the potatoes, it turned very creamy and resembled a soup that you'd assume was cream based. At first I thought there was too much liquid, but using an immersion blender, everything came together perfectly. Between the white asparagus and the large amount of dill, the asparagus flavor was a little more muted than I hoped for, but it made for an easier soup to eat. I couldn't find lovage so I substituted celery leaves. The flavor didn't stand out enough to be included in the title but did add a nice depth. It made about 12 cups, not 7 as stated in the recipe. Only other big question was ingredients list called for fresh dill, but method mentioned stirring in both fresh and dried. I used all fresh which helped made a very bright, fresh spring soup! —Stephanie Bourgeois