lemon | Jenna's Everything Blog

In my recent enthusiasm with America’s Test Kitchen, it’s been a while since I shared a good Tasty Kitchen find. That ends today with this recipe from this blogger.

I love heavy cream, but a small voice in my head occasionally reminds me that it’s not the healthiest choice. Of course, most of the time I suppress that voice, but I was still very excited to find that this soup is a healthy alternative. Just like the Cilantro Lime White Bean Soup I shared with y’all, the cannellini beans achieve a creaminess that totally tricks the palate. You’re eating heavy cream, say my taste buds, immersed in gustatory pleasures untold. But they don’t realize . . . that I’m not.

Hah!

I love pulling the wool over the eyes of my tongue.

Anyway, this healthy, creamy, easy-t0-make soup is fabulous. And it’s topped with bacon, so the men in our lives will accept it more readily.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

2 TBS butter
1 medium onion
2 lb asparagus
1 14 oz can white beans (cannellini)
6 cups chicken stock
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1/3 cup Greek yoghurt
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 lemon
1/2 lb bacon

Chop up the onion. Since everything will be pureed, don’t worry about making the dice pretty–rough is fine.

In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and add the chopped onion.

Cook 4-5 minutes until softened.

While the onion cooks, chop up the asparagus, discarding the tough ends . . .

. . . and reserving the tips.

Grab the chopped stalks:

and dump them in the pot with the onion.

I always cringe a little when I use the word ‘dump’ in my cooking instructions. But ‘put’ is too bland, and ‘deposit’ or ‘plunk’ make me think of certain ‘deposits’ left by certain furry creatures in certain litter boxes. There must be another word. Throw? Fling? Hurl? Oooh, how about ‘lob’? Lob the minced garlic into the pot. Or is it ‘lob the minced garlic at the pot’? Either way, I like it. I could really get into lobbing things at other things. Thank you, virtual Thesaurus.

Back to the instructions: saute the asparagus for about 5 minutes until bright green and tender.

Add the drained can of white beans . . .

. . . chicken stock . . .

. . . and cayenne . . .

. . . and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.

Dang it, there was no opportunity to lob anything with those pourable ingredients.

In the meantime, chop the bacon into smallish chunks.

Saute it over medium heat until browned and crisp.

A few minutes before the bacon is done, add the asparagus tips to the pan and cook, still over medium heat, for about 3 minutes.

Remove the bacon and tips to a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb the excess grease.

Once the soup is done simmering, puree it with an immersion blender until it’s smooth.

Add the Greek yoghurt . . .

. . . and puree it again. Add salt and pepper to taste:

Add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, also to taste.

I used half the lemon and that was just about right.

Serve the soup topped with the bacon and asparagus tips.

It’s creamy . . . but healthy.

I love how ‘creamy’ and ‘healthy’ are no longer contradictory terms in my kitchen.

I made my taste buds very happy that evening.

Click here for printer-friendly version: Light and Creamy Asparagus Soup

My friend Cassia has a blog full of lovely, lovely recipes. A while back she posted a recipe for this creamy pasta dish with lemon and basil, and I started hankering to make it the moment I saw her pictures. So on a lovely Sunday afternoon while Heidi and Baby James were staying with us, I whipped it up.

My first reaction: it was okay. Fine. Not bad, not awesome. I wanted to love it but was a little underwhelmed, so I decided not to blog about it because of my commitment to myself (and to you!) to only share recipes I truly love and would make again.

Then a couple days passed. Tuesday night my husband and I immersed ourselves in baking chocolate chip cookies and lemon cream bars, so I decided that it was time to eat the leftovers from Sunday so that we could focus our culinary efforts on the baking side of things. I wasn’t too excited about the leftovers, but I can’t stand to waste perfectly good food, so I pulled the pasta out and reheated a bowl for my husband and a bowl for myself.

And we dug in.

Oh my. It was like a dish transformed! “Wow, this is really good,” I said to my husband between mouthfuls. “Yeah,” he agreed. “You should blog about it.” “Yeah,” I said, engulfed in the wonderment of each bite.

I don’t know what happened to this dish as it sat in the refrigerator for a day and a night, but it was something magical. It got . . . creamier. Tastier. Really friggin’ delicious. So: know that on day #1 it’s a perfectly acceptable pasta dish. But also know that on day #2 and day #3 it becomes a marvellous concoction. Conclusion: if you are cooking for yourself and need something that will stay good or improve in the fridge over time, this is it!

Musical interlude: This is it! Ooooooh, I’ve finally foooooouuund someone, someone to share my life, I’ve finally foooooouuuuund someone . . .

Who the heck sings that song and why is it playing in my head with such clarity?

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts
1 cup flour
Salt and pepper
3 TBS olive oil
1 lb cellentani pasta (or any other small ridged pasta)
1 white onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
28 oz can diced tomatoes, partly drained
Juice of 1 lemon
12 leaves basil, 10 minced and 2 chiffonade
1 T dried parsley
3/4 cup heavy cream
4 oz goat cheese

Mission #1: let’s get that pasta started. Boil some salted water, and dump it in!

When it’s al dente, drain it and set it aside for later.

While the pasta is cooking, cut the chicken breasts lengthwise into strips. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel and season the strips liberally on both sides with salt and pepper. Then dredge the chicken in the flour and shake off the excess.

Heat 2 TBS of olive oil in a pan over high heat. When very hot, add the chicken strips.

Lower the heat to medium-high and don’t touch them for about 3 minutes. When browned on one side, turn them over and continue to brown until cooked through.

Look at that lovely, golden crust!

Remove the chicken to a plate and cut the strips into bite-sized pieces.

Gather the remaning ingredients to your bosom.

Yes, that picture is terribly blurry. But I have a very small and convenient scape-goat–one with poofy cheeks and a little fuzzy head. You can blame my photographic failure on the distractions provided by Baby James in the arms of my husband.

Oh, that Baby James. I miss him so much!

And no, I can’t manage to call him just “James.” He’s Baby James and that’s just that.

While the pasta is cooking and the chicken is frying, apply yourself by dicing the onions and slicing the garlic. Multitasking makes everything go faster.

Add another 1 TBS of olive oil to the pan and cook the onion and garlic until over medium-high heat until soft, about 5 minutes.

Mince up the basil while the onions fry:

And squeeze the lemon too.

By now the onions should be exactly where we want them, so add the partly-drained can of tomatoes, the minced basil, the lemon juice, and the parsley.