Vegetable in a special sauce after a starter of soup (9)
I believe the answer is:
asparagus
'vegetable' is the definition.
(I know that asparagus is a type of vegetable)
'a special sauce after a starter of soup' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
'special' could be 'sp' (abbreviation) and 'sp' is located in the answer.
'sauce' could be 'ragu' (Italian cooking sauce) and 'ragu' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'as' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for asparagus that I've seen before include "Sugar asap for the vegetable" , "Plant whose young shoots are cooked as expensive vegeable" , "Spears or shoots" , "Succulent edible shoots" , "Food" .)