Dan Hagerty Shamrock Soup

Necessity is the mother of invention and out of necessity I needed to find a recipe that used up a big bag of asparagus. I bought it at Costco last week, thinking I would use it for a few meals during the upcoming week. But it had been over a week and I hadn't opened it yet. Luckily I found this asparagus soup recipe that called for 2 lbs of asparagus. So I made this soup knowing full well my children aren't crazy about asparagus or any kind of green soup. But again necessity is the mother of invention so I decided to call it "Shamrock Soup" and at least try to get them to taste it using a gimmicky name. And it worked... somewhat. The non-picky eaters in my house ate it and said it was good. And as far as the "boyfriend" name- Dan Hagerty- this recipe was christened after him solely because Hagerty is an Irish name. Some may be skeptical and think I just made up this name to go with my recipe and that I didn't ever go out with a "Dan Hagerty" but I say it is the luck of the Irish that I actually did. And if your family is just a wee-bit adventurous they would enjoy this soup on St. Patrick's Day.

2 lbs asparagus, cut off and throw away tough ends of asparagus. This is usually the bottom 1 or 2 inches of the asparagus. Then cut tips off and set aside. Then chop up remaining stems into 1/2 inch pieces.

3 TBSP. butter

2 small leeks, halved lengthwise and sliced thin

3 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 c. frozen peas

2 TBSP. Parmesan cheese

1/4 c. heavy cream, plus more for drizzling

1/2 tsp. lemon juice

salt and pepper

Melt 1 1/2 TBSP. butter in soup pot over medium-high heat. Add asparagus tips and cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, about 2 minutes. Take out of pot and set aside.

Add remaining butter, asparagus pieces, leeks, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. pepper to pot and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes.

Add broth to pot and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in peas and Parmesan cheese. Puree soup in blender in 2 batches and return to pot. Stir in cream and lemon juice and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

When I served the soup to my kids I drizzled a little more cream on top. I attempted to make it look like a shamrock to boost the gimmick-factor, but apparently you need a really steady hand to do this. I also topped mine and my husband's soup with the sauted asparagus tips but I didn't on my kids because if they got any idea that they were actually eating asparagus- then my irish luck would wear off quickly!

Happy St. Patrick's Day Eating!