Cream of Asparagus Soup

I think this is my favorite way to eat asparagus, in soup.  Any time I have a bunch of asparagus I always end up making this soup.  We grew up having cream of asparagus soup.  When I made this soup yesterday my kids couldn't get enough!  It makes a good meatless meal too.  Just serve it with some bread or breadsticks and you're set.  You can pressure cook, steam, boil, or oven roast the asparagus for this soup.

Cream of Asparagus Soup

4 tbsp of butter
1/2 C onion or shallots (optional)
1/4 C flour
1 C hot chicken broth
6 C milk
1/2 C cream (optional)
salt and fresh ground pepper
1-2 bunches of fresh asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces and cooked (pressure cook, steam, boil, or oven roast)

Cook the onions in butter until translucent.  Add in the flour and cook for a minute more.  Remove from heat and whisk in the hot chicken broth.  Return to heat and slowly whisk in the milk.  Bring to a simmer and let thicken.  At this point, you can add in the cream if you wish.  If you like, add in about 1/3 of the cooked asparagus and use an immersion blender to incorporate the asparagus flavor into the soup.  Add in the cooked asparagus and serve.

A note on the asparagus:  To remove the woody ends of the asparagus start bending the asparagus at the very bottom of the stalk.  The stalk will snap at the point where the asparagus is no longer hard and woody!