simple ramp and asparagus soup

I thank my lucky stars that I have never been allergic to anything (as far as I am aware).

My husband has very bad hay fever. Because of this he cut his alone-time vacation short by one day. The pollen is just too intense upstate right now and he couldn't even sleep at night.

Part of me was happy. Selfishly happy. He came home early and I was excited to see him.

I found this soup on Laura's blog, The First Mess. She adorned her soup with violets! Beautiful! And she writes about how ramps have become over harvested of late due to their foodie fame. Interesting.

I made this soup for his return and adorned it with parsley. Not violets, but it'll do. The soup has a real kick - just how my husband likes it. The cayenne really pops out of an otherwise mild melange. Potato is the mild filler with mild ramp and asparagus for flavor. I used white wine vinegar instead of white wine, and omitted the lemon juice, but think it probably is better as written.

Spring brings us wonderful new produce as well as pollen. Here is my celebration of the positive side of new growth.

I am entering this soup in Kahakai Kitchen's Souper Sundays. Check out what other people made on her website.

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