Creamy Asparagus Soup with a Poached Egg on Toast

I am making Jamie Oliver's Creamy Asparagus Soup with a Poached Egg on Toast from his fantastic cookbook - "Jamie at Home". It's a really cold rainy day in Austin, after a seemingly endless string of rainy days. Soup is just the thing to make me feel warm and cozy!

"Jamie at Home" is all about simple recipes focused on seasonally available produce. Asparagus and Eggs are part of his Spring section - let's just say I'm hoping the weather starts matching the meal.


So far, I've dumped a bunch of reasonably chopped leeks, onions and celery into a large stock pot and sauteed them in olive oil along with a sprinkle of sea salt and a turn of pepper. Mild upset, as they started to burn a bit, but no matter. I think I stopped it in time to have it taste ok (finger's crossed). I then added chopped asparagus (minus the tips) and stock and waited for it to come to a boil - it took a while. Once it began to boil, I turned it down to a simmer.


The poached eggs are the real challenge of the evening. First off, I have some lovely eggs from the Austin Farmer's Market, specifically from Smith & Smith Farms. I bought them over almost two weeks ago, so I thought it best to work through until I had a good batch. Unfortunately, it appears only 2-3 out of the remaining 5 are viable, so to speak. Lordy. In any case, the next part is the true challenge. I need to time it well too so that the eggs won't be cold by the time my husband, Stephen comes home from work... basically, I need to get a deep pan of water boiling, according to Jamie, and then I just need to dump in the eggs, and voila, they're poached. So simple, right? Well I've read differently elsewhere. The approach I'm going to take is to gently bring the water to a boil, add some vinegar (a tablespoon - it's supposed to help the eggs maintain their shape - though Harold McGee says they'll be misshapen....details), and then swirl. While swirling, I add the eggs, pre-cracked, from dishes. Tricky.


In the meantime, I've pureed the soup with an immersion blender and added the asparagus tips. I've also sliced up a lovely prosciutto and pepper ficelle from Central Market. I'm going to toast it lightly and attempt the eggs....


The first egg was a disaster, but the second shaped up well enough. Now, I'm just adding a touch of lemon to the soup, before plating it with an egg, some scrumptious prosciutto toast, and a drizzle of olive oil. It all tastes very spring-like and fresh (an thankfully not burnt). It is a bit of an odd combination. I think my eggs ended up a little too over cooked, but other than that, this is a pretty simple recipe that gives a lot of panache. I like it!