I did it!! Spring Pea Soup

YES. We finally had soup and sandwich for lunch today. HURRAH! I feel very triumphant. You should know-- Pan is very picky, and he leans towards asian style meals all the time. All. The. Time. But today was different-- oh yes indeed-- i woke up early, fed the dog, embarked on a challenging task of making and drinking a kale smoothie, drank said kale smoothie and survived (I cheated and used naked juice to sweeten the deal) and went grocery shopping. Fuelled with a buzz that I had never felt before (I attribute it to the kale in the juice), I shopped for what I would have wanted to see for lunch. That meant turkey sandwiches and a light, smooth pea soup.

No pictures or even an appropriate recipe, because I was so high on life I didn't even measure anything. This girl is on fire!


Well, by the time Julian was up I had already cooked my soup and taste-tested some turkey and smoked salmon sandwiches (individually, obviously)  heh heh heh, and when he asked what was for lunch, i said

(nonchalantly, somewhat earnestly and willing-to-please): "oh I made some pea soup and was planning for us to have that with some sandwiches.. But I know you hate peas so if you really want I have an alternative menu I can cook up?"

Pan: "Oh well, I suppose we could eat that for lunch..."

Me cutting in: "Super! That would make me sooo happy. Are you sure? You are such a dear!"

HO HO HO! Reverse psychology FTW!


So we had pea soup and sandwiches for lunch. Unprecedented. I have been together with this man for over 4 years, and never had we had soup and sandwiches for lunch. What's more, he LIKED the soup! He actually LIKED it! In his words "Mmmm, this is good soup!" SCORE! For a man who has not eaten a SINGLE pea since he was 10 years old, and who turns his nose up on mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin (and similarly, peas) because of their "mushy" texture. Good Lord I thank thee.

Here's my rough recipe. I had some beautiful chicken stock that came from steaming chicken drumsticks, so it was very concentrated and full of chickeny goodness. I am sure that a good (not swansons for this please), possibly organic store-bought chicken stock will stand in nicely.

SPRING PEA SOUP

Serves 4
prep time: 5 minutes 
total cooking time: 40 minutes 

(Image credits: http://www.velavanstores.com/green-peas.asp)









Ingredients

2 tbs butter
1 tbs garlic oil (recipe to come soon. YOU MUST MAKE THIS. IT IS IMPERATIVE.)  1 large russet potato, peeled and coarsely diced
1/4 vidalia onion, sliced (i'm sure a yellow onion would have been ok too.. I chose vidalia because I conveniently had a quarter in my fridge, and I like the soft, sweet texture) 
4 cups of shelled, frozen peas (obviously fresh would have been better)
pinch of salt and black pepper
1.5 cups chicken broth/stock 


Method:

Heat butter and oil up in a medium-sized pot on medium heat, add onions to sweat (5 minutes), then the potatoes (10 minutes), stirring often to prevent from sticking.
When the potatoes start to brown, add your peas, and season with some salt and black pepper. Try not to keep on tasting the mixture, or else you'd find that your end recipe only serves 3!

One recipe I found suggested putting some ascorbic acid in the soup at this point to keep the vibrant green of the peas from discoloring as it cooks. It suggested that you crush up a vit c pill if you did not have ascorbic acid on hand (well I don't, do you?) 
So just to report back, I tried this trick with some apprehension.. The color looked.. fine, taste wise it did not make the soup taste like citrus, so.. try it maybe?

Once all your peas are soft, cool your mixture down (I cheated and used 5 ice cubes to cool it down rapidly) and transfer everything to the blender. Make sure that the peas are entirely soft here-- there will be little to no more cooking after this step, and tough pea coverings are a let down to this creamy delight).
Whizz it in your blender, starting from the lowest setting to the highest, and keep your hand securely on the lid (cover the lid with a kitchen towel if you are afraid of hot liquid projectiles!), until the mixture is smooth.
 Pour it back into the pot, adding some more water to the blender to capture all your precious pea soup, and use it to thin the soup if you find it too thick.
 Reheat to simmer, taste for seasonings (salt, black pepper and garlic oil) if needed and texture (add more water or chicken broth), serve.


I don't like soups that are too thick with potato. A couple of months back I wasted two cans of artichoke hearts on a terrible recipe that called for too much potato, and i was left with a gummy mess. It broke my artichoke heart, so I always err on the side of using less potato in such creamy soups than too much.

Play around with this recipe! It is cheap and easy to make; you might as well tweak it to your liking ;) hopefully your partner will be as receptive to this soup as mine was. 


Edit: I tasted this soup cold (I had leftovers in the fridge). AMAZING!!!