Twenty-Minute Spring Greens and Herb Soup with Asparagus

Until the advent of year-round fresh produce, every Western country had a version of this early spring soup, created in celebration of the first life-giving young shoots appearing in the fields after a long bleak winter. For a population starved of fresh vegetables, these soups were something of a spring tonic, fast, easy, and very healthy. Called “green” soup, or “garden” soup, it uses whatever greens and herbs are in the garden: lettuces, endives, sorrel, herbs (including parsley and lova