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Celebrating the delights of good healthy everyday food and special treats! Sharing recipes, information, and experiences.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Recipe for Asparagus Soup Seasoned with Zatar



Ever heard of Zatar?  I've seen it mentioned in receipes but hadn't found where to buy it until I got the wonderful opportunity to stop by a Penzy's Spices retail store in Menlo Park, California during our recent trip to San Francisco.  I learned about Penzy's when a friend gave me a selection of Barbecue spices from them a few months ago.  I really like the spices and have gazed longingly at Penzy's wonderful selection of products online.  So when I found out there was a store in Menlo Park, I added it to our agenda.  Well, my agenda.   Mr. ELEB visited a running shoe store while I browsed and shopped to my heart's content.





From my shopping spree at Penzy's
I've been disappointed on several occasions when I had a recipe in mind or found someone else's good sounding recipe and couldn't find the spices I needed here (like ground ancho chili peppers, ajwain, or zatar).  It is one of the trade offs of living on Maui.  And I don't get the opportunity to see and try new "exotic" spices; they just aren't stocked here.


So, back to zatar.  According to Penzy's, zatar is traditionally used in Middle Eastern dishes.  It is a blend of crushed sumac, thyme, white sesame seeds and salt. I bought it to try Penzy's suggestion of pita sprinkled with olive oil and zatar but I was making asparagus soup from some left over stem bottoms (see previous post about this) and given the tantalizing smell of zatar (sort of lemony-sesame-earthy), I thought it would go well with the asparagus.


Yield: 2 servings
Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:

2 cups of chopped asparagus stems, woody parts trimmed off
3 cups of vegetable broth
1 TBSP chopped fresh mint, plus leaves for serving
1 TBSP zatar
Plain non-fat Greek yogurt for serving
1 TBSP toasted pine nuts for serving
Salt and pepper, if needed for serving

Method:
  • Simmer asparagus, broth, mint, and zatar over medium heat for 20 minutes or until asparagus is tender.
  • Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes.
  • Using immersion blender, process until smooth. 
  • Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed.
  • Serve topped with a dollop of yogurt, mint leaves, and toasted pine nuts.


Another soup winner!  Let me know in the comment section if you have any good ideas for zatar.

1 comment:

  1. What an interesting recipe - the ingredients are so well chosen: seasonal, rich in flavour and health-building. I've not yet tried the Middle Eastern seasoning, so will look out for this as well. Very intriguing... Thanks Susie!

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