Pea Pod Soup Recipes

CHILLED PEA POD SOUP RECIPE

Steps:

• Heat a little olive oil in a cast-iron or soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, stirring regularly. Add the pea pods, season with salt, and cook for a few minutes, until the liquids have evaporated if the pods were frozen.
• Deglaze with the white wine, and cook for a minute. Add the hot stock, bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 25-30 minutes, until the pods are quite soft. Remove from the heat and let cool, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
• Put on an apron (I mean it; this can get messy). Using a blender or an immersion blender, whiz the soup in short pulses until all the pods are broken down into chunks. They will refuse to turn to a purée; the goal is simply to break their fibers so they'll be easier to strain.
• Set a food mill (or a fine-mesh strainer) over a medium bowl and ladle a few spoonfuls of the soup into the mill (or strainer). Turn the handle of the mill (or press on the solids in the strainer with the back of a tablespoon) to strain out as much of the liquids as you can. Discard the solids (see note) and repeat with the rest of the soup, still working in batches.
• Sprinkle the soup with a little nutmeg, stir, taste, and adjust the seasoning. Refrigerate until well chilled. (To speed up the cooling, set the bowl in a larger bowl filled with cold water and a few ice cubes.)
• Pour the soup into bowls, add freshly ground pepper, a dash of hot sauce, and a stem or two of fresh herbs, and serve with thin, toasted slices of sourdough bread.

PEA POD SOUP

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a small skillet and "sweat" the onions on low for about 5 minutes, until they are soft. Add them to the warm stock.
• Bring the stock to a boil.
• Add the pea pods & peas, seasoning with salt, pepper, and sugar as desired.
• Bring the stock to a boil for about 6-8 minutes.
• Toss in the mint and then run the soup through the blender until it's smooth.
• Strain to remove the strings. (Running them through the berry screen of a food strainer works beautifully.)
• Garnish with bacon crumbles for a little something to bite.

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.

PEA POD SOUP

Steps:

• Wash pea pods and pull off the stringy portion on the back side of the pea pod and discard.
• In a medium size saucepan, add water and bring to boil.
• Add pea pods, chicken soup base, sliced onion, mint sprigs and parsley sprigs.
• Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes.
• When outer flesh of pea pods are tender, remove from saucepan and rub pea pods through a course sieve.
• In a frying pan on low heat, melt margarine, stir in flour using a whisk and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly (DO NOT BURN).
• Add flour mixture to saucepan and stir well.
• Add pea pod puree', salt, white pepper, sugar, petite peas and bring just to boil.
• Remove from heat.
• Serve soup in bowls and sprinkle with chopped fresh mint leaves.