Chilled Minted Sweet Pea Soup Recipes

COLD MINTED PEA SOUP

Steps:

• In a saucepan heat the olive oil. When hot, add the onion, cover and simmer gently for about 3 to 4 minutes or until tender. Add the lettuce and stir just until wilted. Add the 2 cups of water and peas and bring just to a boil and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. Puree through a food mill or in a food processor with the mint, then add enough ice water or cream to thin to the desired consistency. Chill until serving time. Before serving, adjust the seasoning and serve garnished with chives and yogurt if you wish.

CHILLED MINTED SWEET PEA SOUP

Steps:

• In 3-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook onions in butter, stirring frequently, until tender. Add peas and broth; heat to simmering. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; cool 20 minutes.
• In blender, place pea mixture, buttermilk, chopped mint and salt. Cover; blend on medium-high speed about 1 minute, stopping frequently to scrape sides, until smooth. Pour into large bowl. Cover; refrigerate about 1 hour or until well chilled. Garnish individual servings with crème fraîche, mint leaves and pepper.

FRESH PEA SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the leeks and onion, and cook over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the onion is tender. Add the chicken stock, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Add the peas and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until the peas are tender. (Frozen peas will take only 3 minutes.) Off the heat, add the mint, salt, and pepper.
• *Puree the soup in batches: place 1 cup of soup in a blender, place the lid on top, and puree on low speed. With the blender still running, open the venthole in the lid and slowly add more soup until the blender is three-quarters full. Pour the soup into a large bowl and repeat until all the soup is pureed. Whisk in the creme fraiche and chives and taste for seasoning. Serve hot with garlic croutons.

CHILLED PEA SOUP WITH FRESH MINT

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, cook the leek in the butter over moderate heat for 3 minutes, or until softened. Add the broth, peas and seasonings and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes, or until the peas are very tender. In a food processor, blend the mixture in batches until combined well. Let it cool. Chill the soup, covered, for at least 2 hours. Before serving stir in cream and fresh mint. Garnish with mint sprigs. Correct the seasoning.

CHILLED PEA SOUP WITH FRESH MINT

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, cook the leek in the butter over moderate heat for 3 minutes, or until softened. Add the broth, peas and seasonings and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes, or until the peas are very tender. In a food processor, blend the mixture in batches until combined well. Let it cool. Chill the soup, covered, for at least 2 hours. Before serving, stir in cream and fresh mint. Garnish with mint sprigs. Correct the seasoning.

SWEET PEA SOUP

Steps:

• Bring 3 cups water to a boil. Remove from heat, add mint, reserving a few sprigs for garnish, and let steep for about 2 hours, until the liquid is very flavorful and slightly green. Strain liquid, discarding mint, and transfer to two ice trays, or an 8-by-8-inch baking pan. Place in the freezer, and freeze until solid.
• Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan set over medium-low heat. Add chopped onion, salt, and pepper; cook, stirring often, until onions are soft and translucent, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Add stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and let simmer 1 hour. The liquid will be reduced by about half. Add peas, and cook about 4 minutes, until peas are just tender. Remove from heat, and transfer to a bowl set in ice water. Stir until cold.
• Transfer soup to the jar of a blender; process until smooth. Adjust consistency with more stock. Chill until ready to serve.
• Remove frozen mint ice cubes from the freezer, and place them in the jar of a blender (if using an 8-by-8-inch baking pan, cut ice into chunks). Process the mint ice cubes until they are crushed.
• Place soup in bowls topped with a spoonful of crushed mint ice; garnish with mint sprigs, and serve immediately.

MINTED PEA SOUP

Steps:

• Finely chop onion. In a 4-quart heavy saucepan cook onion in butter with salt to taste over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add peas and 3 cups stock and simmer, uncovered, until peas are tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in mint and remaining 2 cups stock and remove pan from heat. In a blender purée soup in batches until very smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids), forcing each batch through a sieve into a large bowl. (Discard solids in sieve between batches.) Whisk in cream (or cream-yogurt mixture) and salt and pepper to taste. If serving soup cold, chill, covered. If serving soup hot, reheat but do not let boil.

PEA & MINT SOUP

Steps:

• Put the spring onions into a large pan with the potato, garlic and stock. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potato is very soft. For the garnish, blanch 3 tbsp of the shelled peas in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, drain, put in a bowl of cold water and set aside. Add the remaining peas to the soup base and simmer for 5 minutes - no longer, or you will lose the lovely fresh flavour of the peas.
• Stir in the mint, sugar and lemon or lime juice, cool slightly then pour into a food processor or liquidiser and whizz until as smooth as you like. Stir in half the buttermilk or soured cream, taste and season with salt and pepper.
• To serve the soup cold, cool quickly, then chill - you may need to add more stock to the soup before serving as it will thicken as it cools. To serve hot, return the soup to the rinsed-out pan and reheat without boiling (to prevent the buttermilk or soured cream from curdling).
• Serve the soup in bowls, garnished with the remaining buttermilk and the drained peas.

CHILLED PEA-MINT SOUP

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, bring the buttermilk to a simmer and add 4 cups of peas and a large pinch of salt. Simmer for 1 to 2 minutes over medium heat, stirring often so that the buttermilk does not boil over. The peas should not be fully cooked and still have a slight bite to them.
• Transfer the peas and liquid immediately to a blender with the mint leaves and, starting on low speed, carefully blend (holding the lid on firmly with a dishcloth), working up to high speed for 60 seconds.
• In order to preserve the vibrant color and flavor of the peas, the soup must be cooled immediately. Pass through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, then rest the bowl inside a larger bowl full of ice water. Stir continuously until cool, tasting occasionally; you will notice that the soup becomes sweeter as it cools. Adjust seasoning with salt and black pepper. Refrigerate until cold.
• To serve, ladle soup into bowls and top with fresh peas and freshly ground black pepper.