Guest Blogger: John Dezort

Rachel here: For a while now, we've been meaning to get some other people cooking on our blog. We love the guest posts we've been able to feature on Food for Thought Thursdays but we've also been wanting to do more. Today we are excited to kick off another outlet for voices and recipes other than our own by turning over the post to a guest blogger we're pretty sure you all already know and love: John Dezort. Though you've been looking at his illustrations for months now, and were recently made privy to a Food for Thought post by him, we're excited to show you what he can do when left entirely to his own devices. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, John Dezort.

John here: So it's spring, and even though in California it feels like spring for most of the year and locally grown produce can be bought throughout the year, spring in California brings forth an abundance of new veggies and fruits. I AM bragging, in case you weren't sure. So due to the recent availability of these vegetables, a wonderful woman I work with brought in a case of fresh asparagus she had found on the cheap and divided it among the employees. I ended up with a LOT of asparagus, which is a good problem to have. So I made soup!


Ingredients
6 to 7 cups chicken stock
1 large bunch of locally grown California spring asparagus (joking, any will do)
5 small yukon gold potatoes cut into small cubes
3 small ears of corn
1 large onion
3 stalks celery
1 large lemon--rind and juice
2 T parsley
2 tspn. thyme
2 T. dried mustard
pinch nutmeg
worcestershire sauce, just a little will do
Tapatio, Tabasco, cayenne, or anything spicy
1 pint or so of cream

Method
Dice onion, celery, and the bottom half of the asparagus spears (reserve the tops for later), season with salt and pepper and saute in butter until the onion is translucent and browned slightly. Do this in the pot you will use for the soup. Add the stock and bring to a simmer. Add minced parsley, thyme and the other spices omitting the nutmeg, but including the lemon rind. Add hot (spicy) ingredients now as well but only to taste with a splash or two of worcestershire. Let simmer for roughly twenty minutes and then add the potatoes. Cook until the potatoes are done. While the soup is simmering, cut the asparagus tops into bite size pieces and blanch in boiling water that is very salty, like ocean-salty (really, it makes a difference). Shock in an ice bath when almost tender and set aside. Add the fresh corn from the cob to the soup (the corn will cook in a matter of minutes). Add a pinch of nutmeg and the juice from the lemon and finish with cream. Do not add the cream to a boiling soup as it will curdle, and don't reheat soup to a boil or it will separate. Adjust seasoning and add asparagus tops just before serving.