Asparagus-Rice Soup with Sausage
This simple, rustic Asparagus-Rice Soup with Sausage brings together some of the best flavors we associate early spring: asparagus and lemon.
Asparagus-Rice Soup with Sausage
Photo Credit : Amy TraversoThis simple, rustic soup brings together some of the best flavors we associate early spring: asparagus and lemon. Pulling from the Italian playbook, we sprinkle the soup with Parmesan to enrich the broth and brighten it with some lemon zest. Meanwhile, sausage, rice, and potatoes add substance.
Yield:
6Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 links sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings
1 medium sweet onion, such as Vidalia, diced
2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 1/2 quarts (6 cups) low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup Arborio or other short-grain rice
2 bay leaves
1 bunch asparagus
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Garnish: Freshly grated Parmesan and lemon zest
Instructions
Set a soup pot over medium heat. Add the oil and the sausage meat that you’ve removed from its casings. Cook the sausage, using a wooden spoon to break it up into smaller pieces, until it is no longer pink but not yet browned, about 5 minutes.
Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the potato and cook for five minutes, then add the chicken broth, rice, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until the rice and potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Add the asparagus and cook until crisp-tender, 3 to 5 minutes.
Divide the soup among your serving bowls. Sprinkle each bowl generously with freshly grated Parmesan and a bit of lemon zest. Serve immediately.
Amy Traverso
Amy Traverso is the senior food editor at Yankee magazine and co-host of the public television series Weekends with Yankee, a coproduction with WGBH. Previously, she was food editor at Boston magazine and an associate food editor at Sunset magazine. Her work has also been published in The Boston Globe, Saveur, and Travel & Leisure, and she has appeared on Hallmark Home & Family, The Martha Stewart Show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Amy is the author of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Award for best first-time author and won an IACP Cookbook Award in the “American” category.
More by Amy Traverso