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
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
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