Roasted Asparagus Soup with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Parmesan Croutons

A delicious recipe I found on the Food Network website.  I get lots of compliments on it every time I make it.

4 slices bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 leeks, rinsed well and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Roasted asparagus, chopped, about 4 cups
1 baking potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
6 cups reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup diced oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes (opt.)
Grated pecorino romano on top (opt.)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

Arrange bread cubes on prepared baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.  Sprinkle cubes with parmesan cheese.  Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

While the croutons are baking, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add leeks and garlic and cook for 2 minutes, or until soft.  Add bay leaves and thyme and cook for 1 minute, or until fragrant.  Add asparagus, potato and broth and bring to a simmer.  Reduce heat to medium, partially cover and simmer for 10 minutes, or until potato is fork tender.  Remove bay leaves, and using an immersion blender, or a regular blender working in batches, puree soup until smooth.  Ladle soup into bowls and top with sun-dried tomatoes and croutons.

My notes:
-Prepping the asparagus is the hard, time-consuming part.  Once that's done, the rest is fast and easy.  But who has 4 cups of roasted chopped asparagus on hand, I ask you?  I roast my asparagus with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  You can do this ahead of time and refrigerate it until you need it.
-I tried this recipe once when I didn't have fresh asparagus, so I used frozen asparagus and roasting that.  It took less time because I didn't scrape off scales.  I got fewer compliments on the soup.  I won't do it again.
-For the croutons, I nix the cooking spray and use olive oil instead.  Also, I use way more parmesan.  And I usually use yummy Pugliese or other bread, because the better the bread, the better the croutons.
-If you break the bay leaves in half, and crush the thyme with your fingers, you get more herbal essence.
-This recipe says it makes 4 servings.  That is true, if you are skimpy and no one dreams of having seconds.  Long story short, I would 1 1/2 times the recipe for 4 real servings.  But of course, if you're going to all this work and it's as delicious as I say it is, then you should just double or triple it and have leftovers.

The end.