Cream of Asparagus Soup

Something really wonderful happened this weekend.  The sun came out and the temperature went over 60.  It felt so good to get out and get some things planted in the yard, mow the lawn and let our pasty children play in the sun.  I think I say for most Seattleites that it's spring days like this weekend that we desperately look forward to from January to March, but in this years case, mid April.

The markets are starting to come alive with produce other than Kale and potatoes.  Although the asparagus isn't quite in season here yet our stores are flooded with Asparagus from California.  Since its one of my very favorite veggies, I just couldn't wait to make some Cream of Asparagus soup. 

I made a super simple cream of asparagus soup.  Although the soup was excellent, I though it could use a little crunch so instead of the asparagus tips used to garnish the soup in the recipe, I made some garlic croutons and topped with a little chevre.

Soup recipe from Epicurious.com

Garlic Croutons Recipe:

1 cup of leftover stale french bread cut into 1/2 cubes
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves crushed garlic

Heat oil in a skillet.  Once oil is hot toss in the bread crumbs and saute the bread on med high heat until almost golden brown.  Sometimes I add more oil if the bread has sucked it all up.  Depends on how dry your bread is.  Toss in the garlic and cook until a nice golden brown.  Sprinkle with a little sea salt and place croutons on a paper towel to cool.