Cold Sweet Pea Soup

I know the idea of eating cold pea soup might not sound appealing to you, which is why I added the “sweet” bit.  That makes it better sounding, doesn’t it? Well, let me tell you, it’s yummy – and particularly yummy when there’s a heat wave outside and you don’t feel like cooking.

Also… it’s easy.

Speaking of easy, a simple recipe post suits my schedule perfectly today. We returned from Brittany last week then had my sister’s family over. On Sunday, other friends from NY came, and we’re currently preparing to leave for Switzerland for the pre-teen camp. And I’m trying to finish the 2nd draft to my Regency sequel (which still has plot holes to fill in). So easy is good.

Now on to the peas…

Take a bag of frozen sweet peas that have been pre-steamed. Here’s where the quantity might get tricky. In France, they sell bags of 750 grams, which is 5 cups of peas. That converts to 1.6 lbs or 26.5 ounces. I’m not really sure if the US weight measurement is helpful or not. In any case, you can always measure out 5 cups of peas when in doubt. Let the peas defrost for a couple of hours so that they’re cold, but not frozen.

Before you begin the preparation, set aside a half-cup of peas for garnish.

Put the rest of the sweet peas in a blender with 30 centilitres of cold bouillon, which is about 1 1/4 cups.  So what I did here was to crumble a vegetable bouillon cube in a bit of water that I heated in the microwave for 30 seconds. When the cube was dissolved, I added cold water to get the full amount.

Add 33 centilitres of heavy (or light if you prefer) cream, which is just under 1 1/2 cups. And then add a teaspoon of salt. I used sea salt which has bigger grains, and it was a scant teaspoon. If you’re using table salt, I’d stick to 1/2 teaspoon.

Mix it up!

I blended it several times and scraped the sides with a spatula in between. I wanted it to be as creamy as possible. And though I have a cheap blender so it’s not as well-blended as you might get with a Vitamix, the texture was still tasty.

This recipe makes 8 appetizer-size bowls of sweet pea soup (although we didn’t have guests, so we ended up eating it all). You put the soup in bowls, and that’s when you add the garnish: the half-cup peas equally divided, a splash of pepper and a sprinkle of dried or fresh tarragon on top of each soup.

I got this recipe from a French cookbook called Simplissime. It’s a series of cookbooks for easy recipes, and this one is for large groups. The only substitution I made was vegetable bouillon for chicken, dried tarragon for fresh, and I measured the salt. I also eliminated the splash of olive oil on top simply because I forgot. I’m not sure the recipe needed any additional calories though.

See what I mean? Perfect for a hot summer day, and cute too!

 

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