Spring Pea Soup – The Best You Will Ever Eat

I know, you don’t like peas…and you think this could be a Habitat Pea Soup. Not! We were treated to this last night at a cooking class. Shannon from The Lake Village Bakery put this recipe up and Sean, her husband did the cooking and explanation why he did what he did, and it made perfect sense. OMG it was good. These two work so well together, it is fun to watch them.

Soup Base

• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 4 carrots, chopped
• 500 g shelled peas (frozen will do just fine)
• 50 g butter
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2 litres of vegetable stock
• 500 mls whipping cream

Heat a large pot over medium heat,  then add 2 tbsp. vegetable oil. Now add the celery, onions, garlic, carrots and stir, cooking until soft. Add the butter and peas and cook for 2 minutes while stirring.  Add the flour and continue stirring and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the stock and cream and continuously stir to keep the flour from sticking. Bring to a boil then turn down and simmer for about 45-60 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve.

Soup

• Soup base from above
• 1 kg shelled blanched fresh peas or not blanched, frozen
• 10 oz. baby spinach

In a blender start on low speed, then speed up) add the soup base, peas and spinach and blend (puree). Keep doing this for 4-5 minutes. The longer you blend, the greener it gets.

Strain this through a fine mesh sieve, making sure to press it through. Discard the pulp.  Garnish this with the homemade Creme Fraiche (recipe follows) and a little lime zest on top.

• 3 parts whipping cream
• 1 part buttermilk

Stir together until well combined. Put in a glass jar or container.  Cover with saran wrap and poke a few holes in the saran. Sit on the counter for 2 nights and then refrigerate for up to 1 week. If, in the summer, only let it sit on the counter for 1 night.

You won’t believe this. Truly, it is simply delicious.