Private Benjamin, Friends and Rosemary Asparagus Soup

There's a scene in the 1980 movie "Private Benjamin" where Goldie Hawn's character, Judy, while marching through the mud and rain during basic training, aches for her former spoiled life and whines, "I want to go out to lunch!"

I may not exactly whine about it, but I rank "going out to lunch" as one of life's best simple pleasures.

Mr. Rosemary will go out to lunch with me if it's just part of a day-long shopping outing, but it's just fuel for him. So, going out to lunch has become a "girly" thing for me.

Throughout my cancer treatment, I've been lucky that my girlfriends have been happy to oblige. We developed a nice little habit: The day before my chemo treatment, when I was likely to feel my best, was "go out to lunch" day. Mostly we just sampled local restaurants. We included a movie matinee a couple times or maybe a bit of shopping. (Don't go to a brand new restaurant two days after it opens! Give them some time to work out the kinks!)

But once, we had a lovely lunch at a friend's -- Mary's -- home.  The main course was a rich and creamy asparagus soup. There was a strawberry and spinach salad, warm bread with little pats of butter, fresh flowers on the table, a chocolate cake for dessert, all on the hostess's vintage china. Perfect.

(And who forgot to take pictures?!?)

It was Susie's soup that stole the show for me.  Not only did I have seconds then and there, I got to take the leftovers home. (Did I share, you wonder? Of course not.)

I've had cream of asparagus soup before, but this was special. At first, I thought maybe because it was because Susie used her own asparagus. But when she gave me the recipe, I saw it had rosemary in it. Usually, rosemary is pretty potent -- (not me, silly, the herb) -- even in small doses, but it lent a subtle flavor that didn't overpower at all.  More perfect.

The cast of characters at our ladies' lunches has varied, but thank you Mary, Susie, Connie, Liz, Missy, Lindsay, Rose and Katie.  Thank you for helping me forget, even for a few hours, that I was a "cancer patient." For a few hours, I was just one of the girls.  And that made me feel special.

Rosemary Asparagus Soup
from Susie McLaughlin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 15.5 ounce can white beans, drained
1 pound fresh asparagus, chopped (save tips)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 pound crisp bacon, chopped (for garnish)
Parmesan cheese (for garnish)

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and cook onion, garlic and rosemary until softened. Add butter and flour and cook until flour is dissolved.

Mix broth, white beans, asparagus, cream, salt and pepper into onion mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until asparagus is tender, abut 10 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and let mixture cool. Pour soup in batches into blender or food processor until smooth. Then pour through strainer. Steam the asparagus tips in a little water in microwave and add to soup before serving. Heat on low before serving. Sprinkle with cheese and bacon.

Spring Love: Dilled Ham Asparagus Chowder

The first time I ate asparagus I was a teenager. For a reason I can’t remember, I was visiting my oldest sister, who lived a couple hours away in Ohio with her husband. She had just finished a day’s work, and we were at the grocery store hurriedly trying to gather enough stuff for some unexpected company for dinner. (Can’t remember who that was, either; seems all I can remember is the food!)

She’s dashing from one aisle to the other, putting things in the basket I’m carrying, dutifully following her around. She collects a slice of ham, a can of pineapple rings, a can of asparagus, and a rice mix in five minutes and we’re outta there. Dinner! I was impressed at how quickly she pulled it together.

My sister is one of the most intelligent and interesting people I know. She’s now 73 and is a retired pharmacist, but she hasn’t slowed down one iota. She’s in Europe as we speak, although I’m not sure for what this time. Last fall she was in Rome and witnessed a saint beatification ceremony at the Vatican. Before that it was to England for a contra dancing festival, and she spent Christmas in Ireland one year, too. Did I mention Australia? She even met her husband on one of her several cruises, the Mississippi one, I think, maybe Hawaii. (She’s tough to keep up with.) She takes art classes at the university and teaches tai chi. She’s a great seamstress and she weaves. She has so many other and such varied interests, it’s no wonder cooking doesn’t rank right up there. She introduced me to her favorite cookbook, Peg Bracken’s "I Hate to Cook Book." If you’ve never looked at the book, you must. It’s a hoot. Not only is it fun to read, it has some pretty useful recipes, too; not exactly health-food, mind you, but useful.

Back to asparagus. Although it tasted pretty good, I didn’t like the texture. Kinda soft. And the green wasn’t a bright green, more the avocado green of 1970s appliances. Since then, I’ve learned that canned asparagus – like most canned vegetables – is pretty low on the taste/texture scale. Frozen is better than canned and fresh is best of all. And even though you can get asparagus pretty much any time of year, spring is still the best for tenderness and taste. Since I’ve learned it has so many healthy attributes, I like it all the more.

We’ve had asparagus at home at least once a week for a couple months. In fact, we had some last night, and there’s just enough left over to make this soup today. Maybe I should think about putting it in my vegetable garden this year. (And since I first learned to roast it at Christmas time, it’s my favorite way to cook it. I took a side of a roasted asparagus salad to the Easter feast my sister-in-law hosted.)

It is a pretty versatile vegetable – even good in this soup. I only adapted it a little from the Peter Christian’s cookbook. And I still thank my sister Anne for introducing me to asparagus in the first place.

Dilled Asparagus Ham Chowder

3 T. butter
1 medium onion
1 celery stalk
1 peeled potato
8 asparagus spears
1 cup diced ham
2 cups water
¼ cup water
3 T flour
2 c milk
1 cup light cream
1 T onion salt
½ t white pepper
1 t. dried basil
1 T. dried dill

Melt the butter in a soup pot. Dice the onion, celery, potato and asparagus and cook in the butter for 10 minutes over medium heat. Add the 2 cups water and ham.

In a small bowl, mix the ¼ cup water and the flour and add to soup, stirring until thickened. Add the milk and cream.

Continue cooking over low heat seasoning with the remaining ingredients. Simmer for 15 minutes until flavors have blended.

(I had fresh dill so I added ¼ cup; since my asparagus was already cooked, I added with the ham.)