Asparagus Soup

Oops, didn't mean to wait this long before updating.  The ladies lunch went well and raised just over £100 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.  Thank you so much :-)

It was a lot of hard work, made even more difficult having a young pup around.  For this reason I'm delaying a full opening of the supper club until the summer when she'll be more trained.

Last night I picked up some reduced asparagus in the supermarket.  I wouldn't normally waste it in soup but it was slightly wilting and it wasn't English so perfect for making soup.

Asparagus Soup

2 bunches of asparagus

2 small onions

2 tsp ghee

2 tsp flour

750ml veg stock

250ml milk

Chop onion into dice and soften in the ghee for 10 mins.

Trim ends of asparagus and chop finely.  Add to pan and cook for 5 mins.

Add the flour and stir for 1 min

Add stock and milk and bring to the boil.

Simmer for 10 mins

Blitz until smooth and creamy.

I used ghee simply because I found a tin lurking in the back of my cupboard.  I use skimmed milk in everything but it still tastes creamy.  You could add some cream if you want a cream of asparagus soup. Would be nice sprinkled with chopped chives.

The cranberry gin and blueberry vodka were ready for drinking so I strained them through a jelly bag and filled 2 clean bottles.  Since they're pure alcohol and sugar there's no need for sterilisation.  The gin has already been gifted but the vodka is still up for grabs ;-)

Blueberry Vodka

Not tried this combination before so it's a bit of an experiment.  Same method as Cranberry Gin.  Hey, it's alcohol, fruit and sugar.  Not much can go wrong!!  Love the deep purple colour already.

Cranberry Gin

I found a bag of cranberries at the bottom of my freezer and wondered what to do with them.  I've made strawberry gin and raspberry vodka in the past, so figured I'd have a go with the cranberries.  It can be drunk straight like sloe gin or a measure can be added to a glass of fizz to make a champagne cocktail.

Cranberry Gin

Put cranberries in a clean 1 litre jar (they filled it halfway)
Add enough sugar to fill in the gaps and cover by about 1 cm.
Pour in about 1 litre of gin and seal the jar.
Give it a good shake.

The above photo is the next day when the colour starts to leave the fruit and the sugar starts to dissolve

Day 2 shows there is still some sugar at the bottom of the jar but the colour is a lovely red now.  Give it a shake.

By day 3 the sugar is dissolved

Put the jar in a cupboard for a few weeks to let the cranberry flavour and colour develop.  It can be left for a while if you forget.  Then all you have to do is strain the mixture through some muslin into a clean bottle and enjoy!