I purchased some asparagus with no real idea on what I was going to do with them – usually when I think of asparagus, I think of it as a side to a steak or a piece of fish. I did make an asparagus and ricotta pita years ago with my friend Ann, but I wanted to go for something simpler and lighter. With it being the summer, I felt like a chilled soup might be a nice idea. Asparagus bisque or cream of asparagus soup is totally a thing, so I figured, let’s go with that, but in the form of a gazpacho. Gazpacho is a chilled soup, usually made with tomatoes, but it really can be made with any vegetable. It is a very refreshing soup, and honestly perfect for the summer. In this case, I had the vision for this vibrant green soup with a creamy texture, made by pureeing asparagus. I wanted to get that creamy texture, but I did not want to use dairy. Heavy cream or mascarpone would work beautifully, but that’s very heavy. So instead, I opted for tahini and miso pastes. Tahini is a sesame paste that is popularly used in the Mediterranean. I personally love using it to make hummus or salad dressings, but it does have a creamy texture that can work in a soup. With the miso paste, miso soup is the most common usage for it, but in this case, it adds a layer of umami, salt, and another creamy-ish texture to the soup. All in all, the gazpacho itself was a quick recipe, but the garnishes were where a decent chunk of time was spent.

For the garnishes, we have oven-dried Japanese cherry tomatoes(they are basically Japanese cherry tomato raisins) and sesame sourdough croutons. Incidentally, I went to the farmers market to buy Momotaro tomatoes, which are these gorgeous pink Japanese tomatoes, but the stand that sold then only had these Japanese cherry tomatoes instead, so I purchased them at first, before realizing that they were not even cherry-sized Momotaro tomatoes. I still needed to do something with them, but I had to pivot from my original idea. While I could have just cut them in half and used them as a garnish, I was not necessarily in the mood for fresh cherry tomatoes, so I figured dehydrating them in a similar fashion to a raisin or a sun-dried tomato was the best way to preserve them and use them in other dishes. These raisin-like “sun-dried” cherry tomatoes need to be baked low and slow for a long time just until all of their juices are dehydrated – this can take a lot of time since tomatoes are mostly water to begin with. With the croutons, I had a loaf of homemade sourdough lying around, so I tore that up into smaller pieces, tossed it with olive oil and other seasonings, and baked it until the edges got crispy. The croutons were a great way to add texture to the soup, and in retrospect, I totally would have soaked some of the breadcrumbs of that loaf to blend into the gazpacho, just to use up more of the loaf.

For the sun-dried Japanese cherry tomatoes:
2oz Japanese cherry tomatoes
.1oz olive oil
a pinch of salt
1 tsp smoked paprika

Toss the tomatoes in the other ingredients. Place onto a parchment-lined sheet tray. Bake at 375 degrees F for 5 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 225 degrees F and continue to bake for another 2 1/2 hours. The tomatoes will be done when they cleanly peel off the parchment and are not tacky or sticky to the touch. Store in an airtight container until time to garnish.

For the asparagus-sesame gazpacho:
10oz asparagus; tips trimmed off and reserved
1 white onion, julienned
2 tbsp olive oil, in four parts
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp white miso paste
1.5oz tahini
1/4 cup vegetable stock

Blanch the asparagus stalks in boiling salted water for 1 minute, then shock the stalks in cold water. In a pan, sweat out the onion with one part of the olive oil until translucent. Then add into that the garlic, stirring everything over medium-low heat until the garlic smells fragrant and nutty. Transfer the asparagus stalks, the onion, and the garlic into a blender. Add to that the other ingredients. Puree everything together until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate the gazpacho until it is chilled.

For the sourdough croutons:
.1oz olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp white sesame seeds
a pinch of salt
4oz sourdough, crust removed and torn into smaller pieces

Mix the olive oil, garlic, sesame seeds, and salt in a bowl. Toss the sourdough through the oil. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes, flipping the croutons halfway through the baking time to guarantee that both sides brown evenly.

For garnish:
Reserved asparagus tips
Sesame seeds
Olive oil
Nasturtium leaves

Blanch the asparagus tips for 45 seconds in heavily salted boiling water. Then shock the tips in ice water for 1 minute.

Garnish the soup with the asparagus tips, the sun dried cherry tomatoes, the crouton, some olive oil and sesame seeds, and finally the nasturtium leaves to finish.