A while ago I ordered pea soup in a restaurant. It was such a vibrant green colour and tasted so intensely of peas, I just had to try making something similar myself. A bit of googling suggested that making soup from both the peas and their pods was the way to go, and here's the result.
I realise this is a bit premature, as you're unlikely to have peas ready to pick in April, but I usually get around to posting recipes from home-grown produce far too late in the season to be of use to you, so thought I would get ahead here with a recipe you can bookmark for pea season in a few months time. I actually used mange tout peas here instead of pea pods, (and frozen peas in stead of freshly-picked!), and the result was really good, so you can try this out immediately with supermarket produce if you just can't wait.
The addition of a little gem lettuce was inspired by Julia Child's peapod soup which includes lettuce leaves - it adds to that green, grassy and freshly-picked flavour. Do make sure you add it right at the last minute, or you will lose its delicate flavour with cooking.
The key to the really velvety and creamy texture of this soup is either a high-speed blender, or a sieve. Pea pods are packed with flavour, but are fibrous, so a little hand-blender will leave you with tiny strings throughout the soup which aren't that nice. Sieving takes about 2 minutes so isn't too much of a chore, and the result is totally worth it. The peas add a 'creaminess' all of their own, so this tastes like it has a tub of double cream in in it, when in fact it is dairy-free and super-healthy.
I used my Froothie Optimum 9200A blender which makes light work of those little fibres and blitzed this to a creamy consistency in under a minute. Froothie have just launched a brand new blender, the G2.1 which is super-stylish for a minimalist kitchen, and every bit as powerful as my 9200A which can (apparently) grind paving stones into dust, ha!
Vegan
Peapod & Little Gem Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp rapeseed or groundnut oil
- 1 leek
- 1 onion
- 1 large potato, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- 300 g pea pods or mange tout peas
- 150 g fresh or frozen peas
- 2 spring onions, chopped
- handful fresh parsley, including stalks
- 1 little gem lettuce, outer leaves removed and thickly sliced
Instructions
- In a large saucepan or casserole dish, heat the oil then add the onion and leek. Cook gently for 3-4 minutes until soft, then add the potato and stock, and bring to the boil for 8 minutes.
- Add the pea pods or mange tout, frozen peas and spring onions and cook for a further 2 minutes.
- Pour the soup into a high speed blender, add the lettuce and parsley and blitz for 1 minute until velvety smooth. If small fibres still remain, pass through a sieve.
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I'm linking this recipe up with a few blogging challenges:
- Credit Crunch Munch hosted this month by From Plate to Pen and co-hosted by Fuss Free Flavours and Fab Food 4 All
- Eat Your Greens hosted by The Veg Hog
- Extra Veg hosted by Utterly Scrummy Food for Families and also to Fuss Free Flavours
- No Croutons Required hosted by Tinned Tomatoes
- No Waste Food Challenge hosted by Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary
Disclosure: I am a Froothie Ambassador, and received my 9200A to review. Links above are affiliate links - I will receive a commission if you order a blender via these links, at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting The Veg Space!
I love the additional of the lettuce, that's something I have not tried and I'm a big fan of pea soup! Thanks for linking up with #CreditCrunchMunch.
Wow Kate that soup is so vibrant and beautiful! I love the pan too, where did you get it from? Looks gorgeous on the pics 🙂
Thanks Nicky, its a vintage Le Creuset pan my sister-in-law found for me on EBay - such a fab shape!
What a vibrant green soup! You have very good ideas with this. Thank you very much for sharing with Eat Your Greens!
I've always liked the flavour of peas but not the texture, so pea soup is perfect for me. Love the idea of adding the lettuce as well, great way to use up the stuff at the back of the fridge!
I love lettuce in soups and this sounds delicious as well as being such a pretty green. I bet it would also be delicious with a sprig of mint in it too.
Thanks for sharing with both #extraveg & #creditcrunchmunch
Lovely colors on this one! Looks delicious!
That sure is a very vibrant green. It looks splendid and I'm very partial to a bowl of pea soup. When I use homegrown peas, I always make stock out of them, but I love the idea of blitzing them in the Froothie.
That colour! So gorgeous!
What a gloriously healthy and vibrant looking soup, I just want to dive in a take a spoonful! Love that I'm not the only one with me reflected in my shiny spoons:-) Thanks for a great #CreditCrunchMunch entry:-)
Thanks Camilla! Yes I like to think of it as an Alfred Hitchcock-style cameo appearance.....!
I just love the vibrant green of this soup - it really jumps out of the page! I do like pea soup but have never added lettuce so would like to give that a go one day.
Oh my goodness this is just about the most beautiful soup EVER! Thank you for linking up with the no waste food challenge!