The appearance of asparagus at your local farmers market is nature’s way of shouting at you “warm weather is here!” I love asparagus because they are so cool looking (think dinosaurs and swords). Appearances aside, asparagus is on my top list because just one cup of it contains three to four grams of protein, not to mention vitamin K (which is one thing modern people are having trouble getting enough of). One cup of these spears will give you more than 100 percent of your daily intake requirement. So, buckle up and enjoy this quick and easy soup.

Yield: 2 to 4 servings

Equipment (you may find helpful)

• hand held immersion blender or food processor

Ingredients  

1 pound fresh asparagus, bottom trimmed
1 15-oz can garbanzo beans, strained
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or ghee
1 small spring onion, bulb chopped
½ cup mint leaves
½ cup cilantro
1 cup stinging nettle leaves (*see notes below on sourcing and handling)
1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 cups vegetable stock 
2 tbsps fresh lemon juice
1 lemon zested

Directions

1. Cut tips from eight to 10 asparagus spears. (This will be the garnish when the soup is ready to be served.) Cut the remaining asparagus into chunks.
2. Bring a pot of salty water to a boil, and prepare a bowl of ice water. Blanch asparagus, nettle, mint, and cilantro in boiling water for 60 seconds. Immediately drain and submerge in the ice water.
3. Heat olive oil in a soup pan over medium heat. Cook the thyme, spring onion, and garlic until aromatic. Stir occasionally, about three minutes. Add the chopped asparagus, nettle, mint, cilantro, salt, and pepper. Cook for another three minutes.
4. Add vegetable stock and garbanzo beans into the soup pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until asparagus and nettles are cooked through and beans are soft, about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in lemon juice.
5. While the soup is cooking, prepare a small pot of hot water. Flash boil the asparagus tips. About 20 seconds. Strain and set a side.
6. Pour soup into a food processor or use an immersion blender to blend till smooth.
7. Divide soup into bowls, and garnish with asparagus tips and lemon zest.

Notes

• You can use nettle leaves fresh or dried. If you have a place where you can forage from and you are 200 percent sure that they are grown away from pollutants and are indeed nettles (Urtica dioica), great! Otherwise, here are a few places I recommend sourcing from: 
  • Mountain Rose Herbs
  • Starwest Botanicals
• Wear garden gloves when handling stinging nettles, and always blanch fresh nettle leaves before eating.
• If you would like to add more protein, soft-boiled eggs complement the soup well.