Sunday Lunch At The Hawthornes.

Mr. Hawthorne and I decided to take our time
 and come up with a nice leisurely lunch on Sunday.
 Since I'd just received another case
of pomegranate juice from the nice folks at Pom Wonderful
(Thanks again, Janny.),
 I wanted to make a salad dressing with the pom juice.

My ingredients:
 2 garlic cloves
 lemon juice
Dijon mustard
rice vinegar
pomegranate juice
extra light olive oil
 salt and pepper
fresh thyme
fresh parsley
 fresh basil

I minced the garlic and added a tablespoon of lemon juice. 
 

About a tablespoon of Dijon mustard. 

A tablespoon of rice vinegar. 

2 tablespoons of pomegranate juice. 

Then I whisked in the olive oil to make a nice emulsion. 

I minced the parsley and basil 
and pulled off the thyme leaves
 and added them to the mix along with salt and pepper. 
 

Mr. Hawthorne prepared the salads:
 lettuce greens
 my roasted red, orange, and yellow peppers
 hard boiled egg 
 tomato
 red onion 
croutons 

Add pomegranate dressing for a light,
slightly tart, quite palatable accompaniment. 

We still had one rockfish fillet leftover from the other night, 
so Mr. Hawthorne sprinkled a little Old Bay seasoning over it
 and topped it with butter. 
350 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes.
We liked that meal so much the other night we wanted to have it again. 

I still had leftover tomato sauce I'd used for my calzones, 
to which Mr. Hawthorne added some cream. 

He also added in a little butter for extra richness. 

Rockfish, tomato cream sauce, and parsley. 

Light, fresh, delicious.
 

We bought a bunch of asparagus the other day
 and I wanted to use that up,
 so I'm thinkin' asparagus soup.
 My ingredients:
 chicken consomme 
onion
 celery 
asparagus
 cream 
flour 
butter 
Notice my celery is sitting in a cup of water
 to get a bit more crunchy, since it was a tad flaccid
 when I took it out of the fridge.
 I hear that you should keep it wrapped in foil 
to avoid having that happen, 
but I always keep it in the plastic. 
 

First, I peeled and diced a potato
  and cooked that in a bit of my consomme until it was just tender.

The starch from a potato is a natural thickener,
 so you don't need to use as much flour to thicken your soup. 
 

I chopped the onion, 
the celery, and the asparagus (reserving the tips),
 and I have parsley and celery leaves at the top which I'll use for garnish. 

I cut the tips off the asparagus 
and cooked in boiling water for maybe 60 seconds. 

Then immediately plunged the tips in ice water
 to stop the cooking and set the green color. 

Drain on paper towels. 
 Now, I'm ready to start on the soup. 

I melted about about 2-3 tablespoons of butter
 and added in the chopped onions and cooked for about a minute.

Next, the celery went in. 

And the asparagus. (Not the tips.)
Cook for a minute. 

Then I added in about 2-3 tablespoons of flour
 and cooked for a few minutes. 

Keep stirring and cooking the flour. 

Next, I added in the potato chicken consomme.

Keep stirring.

Gradually add in the rest of the quart of chicken consomme.

Mine was still frozen, so this worked well,
 since just a little bit of the melted consomme was added at a time.

I let this cook on very low, covered,
for about 25-30 minutes,
stirring every now and then.

Then I used my trusty immersion blender to puree the soup. 

Added a tablespoon or two of cream for extra richness and creaminess.

Ladled the mixture into the bowl
and garnished with the blanched asparagus tips
 and chopped parsley and celery leaves. 
And then I looked over and saw the tomato cream sauce
 looking all lonely in the pan,
 so I added a few drops of that for color and flavor.

Isn't this pretty. But wait...

Here's the bowl Mr. Hawthorne fixed for himself. 
He added a big glop of tomato cream sauce 
along with oyster crackers.

Here's mine with the oyster crackers. 
The flavor was sublime. 
The texture was smooth and velvety.
 I loved the crunch of the asparagus tips and the crackers 
and the tomato cream sauce was a very nice complement.
 Since asparagus is in season now, please try the soup.
 You won't be disappointed.
 (Well, I guess you would if you hated asparagus.) 

 And for a quick tomato sauce, 
just chop a fresh tomato and some onion
 and add to a pan with butter. 
Cook for a bit. 
 Add salt and pepper and the fresh herbs of your choice. 
 I prefer parsley and basil. 
Then add in some heavy cream.
If you don't have an immersion blender
 just use a regular blender.
 Except don't fill the blender with hot liquid. 
Just blend half at a time.
 If you try this
 (and I hope you do, since it's really, really, really, really good)
 please let me know how you liked it. 
And I'm looking for superlatives here and the highest of praises.