Garden Pea Soup

Though Summer isn’t officially over for a few weeks yet, the last week before Labor Day feels like the end of the season. This week’s soup works either hot or cold, so it’s a perfect choice. I’m calling it “Garden Pea Soup” to make sure it’s not confused with its “Split Pea” relation, which I’m also fond of, and will no doubt appear later in the fall. Made with either fresh or frozen peas, this soup both brighter taste and color, and it’s quick and easy to make. This is a simple soup, but it would be at home in either lunchbox or luncheon.

Garden Pea Soup

• 3 tbp olive oil
• 1 medium onion (1pb) – chopped coarsely
• 1 Larger green pepper  – ribs and seeds removed and coarsely chopped.
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 3 lbs fresh (shelled) or frozen (my preference) peas
• 2 qts chicken stock (my preference), vegetable stock, or water
• Salt (as required)

Pretty basic, non?

If you’re using frozen peas, and unless you’re doing this after the zombie/robot/eco-apocalypse and don’t have a freezer, you’d be crazy not to, start by thawing the peas in some warm water while you get the other ingredients ready. I don’t really care if they’re thawed or not, but it is a good idea to rinse them before adding to the soup, and you can’t rinse frozen peas.

Bring the olive oil up to heat (a slice of onion sizzles when dropped in) in a saute pan big enough to hold the onions, peppers, and celery without making them much more than a layer deep. Add them to the oil and saute until the onion get’s translucent…about ten minutes. Watch the heat and stir often enough to keep them from browning.

Combine the rinsed peas and sauteed ingredients in a soup pot with the stock and bring it all up to a moderate simmer. Cook for 20 minutes and remove from heat.

Puree the soup with your immersion blender, which is really a lot safer and easier than transferring it to a counter top blender, though not quite as effective. After you’ve got it well pureed, use a mesh strainer to separate out the solids. I find the back of a soup ladle makes a great pestle for mushing the soup around in the strainer. All told, I got about 1 and 1/4 of a cup of solids out of this, which is quite a bit, but they’re really too chewy to be left in. Discard the solids and season the soup with a little salt.

Serve hot or cold, with a  garnish of Creme Fresh, sour cream, or even a swirl of heavy cream…along with a few crunchy croutons or a slice of toasted baguette would add nicely to this soup.

The flavor is interesting. it’s sweeter than Split Pea soup, and tastes almost like it has corn in it. I’ve never tried this before, but will definitely keep it on my summer soup menu.