Finnish Creamy Pea Soup Recipes

CREAMY PEA SOUP

Steps:

• In a large saucepan coated with cooking spray, cook onion and celery until tender. Stir in the water, peas, sweet potatoes, bay leaf, salt, thyme and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 70-80 minutes or until peas are tender. , Remove from the heat; cool slightly. Discard bay leaf. In a blender, puree soup in batches. Return to the pan; heat through.

FINNISH DRIED PEA SOUP (HERNEKEITTO - FINLAND)

Steps:

• Rinse and remove unwanted pieces from the peas. Cover with cold water and let soak overnight.
• Afterwards, drain and rinse the peas. Peel the onion and stud it with the cloves. Put everything into the pot with the peas. (Use fresh water for the 8 cups, not the soaking water.).
• Bring to a boil; cover, lower heat, and let simmer until they are very soft, about 2 hours, stirring often.
• Remove meat from soup. Trim it from the bones, cutting into small pieces. Return it to the soup.
• Salt to taste and serve. (I must add, however, that the listed amount of salt could be too much for some people, let alone adding more at this point. However, I've included the amounts listed by the author because she says that Finnish food is very salty. Use your own judgement.).

CREAM OF PEA SOUP

Steps:

• Drain peas, reserving 1/3 cup liquid. Place peas and liquid in a blender or food processor; cover and puree until smooth. Set aside. In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in the flour, sugar, salt, pepper and sage until blended. Gradually add water; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in milk and pureed peas; heat through. Garnish with bacon.

CREAM OF PEA SOUP

Steps:

• In large nonstick saucepan over high heat, combine butter buds, seasonings, chicken broth and baby peas.
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes or until baby peas are tender; stir occasionally.
• Do not drain.
• In blender, combine milk and flour.
• Blend on high for 1 minute or until smooth.
• Stir milk mixture slowly into soup mixture. Stirring constantly over medium heat, bring soup to boil for 1 minute. Serve hot. Makes 3 servings.

HERNEKEITTO (FINNISH SPLIT-PEA SOUP)

Steps:

• Form a spice bag by wrapping allspice in cheesecloth and tying with a string, or placing allspice in a stainless steal tea ball.
• In a soup kettle saucepan, combine water, peas, ham or pork hocks and allspice; bring to a boil, cover and simmer 1 hour.
• Add potatoes, carrots, onion, salt and pepper, return to boiling.
• Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes.
• Remove spice bag.
• If using pork hocks, remove and cool slightly.
• When cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones and coarsely chop.
• Return meat to soup, discard bones.