Minty Pea Soup Food

BAREFOOT CONTESSA'S FRESH PEA SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the leeks and onion, and cook over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the onion is tender.
• Add the chicken stock, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil.
• Add the peas and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until the peas are tender. (Frozen peas will take only 3 minutes.)
• Off the heat, add the salt, and pepper.
• *Puree the soup in batches: place 1 cup of soup in a blender, place the lid on top, and puree on low speed.
• With the blender still running, open the venthole in the lid and slowly add more soup until the blender is three-quarters full.
• Pour the soup into a large bowl and repeat until all the soup is pureed.
• Whisk in the creme fraiche and chives and taste for seasoning.
• Serve hot with garlic croutons.

FRESH PEA SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the leeks and onion, and cook over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the onion is tender. Add the chicken stock, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Add the peas and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until the peas are tender. (Frozen peas will take only 3 minutes.) Off the heat, add the mint, salt, and pepper.
• *Puree the soup in batches: place 1 cup of soup in a blender, place the lid on top, and puree on low speed. With the blender still running, open the venthole in the lid and slowly add more soup until the blender is three-quarters full. Pour the soup into a large bowl and repeat until all the soup is pureed. Whisk in the creme fraiche and chives and taste for seasoning. Serve hot with garlic croutons.

MINTY PEA & POTATO SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan, then fry the onion for 5 mins until softened. Add the potatoes and stock, then bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 10-15 mins until tender, adding the peas 2 mins before the end of the cooking time.
• Use a slotted spoon to remove a quarter of the vegetables from the pan and set aside. Blend the remaining vegetables and stock in a food processor or using a hand blender until smooth, then stir through the reserved veg, chopped mint and some seasoning. Serve with bread on the side.

PEA & MINT SOUP

Steps:

• Put the spring onions into a large pan with the potato, garlic and stock. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potato is very soft. For the garnish, blanch 3 tbsp of the shelled peas in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, drain, put in a bowl of cold water and set aside. Add the remaining peas to the soup base and simmer for 5 minutes - no longer, or you will lose the lovely fresh flavour of the peas.
• Stir in the mint, sugar and lemon or lime juice, cool slightly then pour into a food processor or liquidiser and whizz until as smooth as you like. Stir in half the buttermilk or soured cream, taste and season with salt and pepper.
• To serve the soup cold, cool quickly, then chill - you may need to add more stock to the soup before serving as it will thicken as it cools. To serve hot, return the soup to the rinsed-out pan and reheat without boiling (to prevent the buttermilk or soured cream from curdling).
• Serve the soup in bowls, garnished with the remaining buttermilk and the drained peas.

MINTY PEA SOUP

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until softened but not browned, 6-8 minutes. Add 2 cups broth and bring to a boil. Add peas, reduce heat, and simmer gently until tender, about 5 minutes for fresh peas, about 2 minutes for frozen.
• Remove pot from heat. Add parsley, mint, and remaining 2 cups broth to pot. Purée soup in a blender or with an immersion blender, thinning with water if soup is too thick, until smooth. Season soup with salt and pepper.
• Whisk crème fraîche and cream in a small bowl to blend. Serve warm soup topped with chives, passing crème fraîche mixture alongside for spooning over.

PEA AND MINT SOUP

Steps:

• Dice the onion. Warm a pot/pan over a medium heat and add the butter. Once melted, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for around 3-4 minutes until the onion is softened and translucent but not browning.
• Add the peas, stir to coat in the butter, then add the stock. Cover the pot with a lid and bring the mixture to a simmer. If using frozen peas, they will only need to cook around 2 minutes, if they are fresh it will be nearer 5-7 minutes. In both cases, the peas should stay bright green but be cooked.
• Remove the pot from the heat and add the roughly chopped mint. Either use a stick/hand blender or transfer the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth. Season with a little salt and pepper to taste (I only needed around 1/8tsp of each).
• Serve either warm or allow to cool and chill to serve cold. In both cases, works well with a swirl of creme fraiche in the middle of the bowl.

PEA AND MINT SOUP

Steps:

• Pour the broth into a medium saucepan and heat until boiling.
• In a separate, large saucepan on medium heat, add 2 T. of olive oil.
• Add the prepped carrots, celery, onions and garlic and mix together. Put a lid on, slightly off center so some steam can escape. Cook this for about 10 minutes, until the carrots are tender but still holding their shape and the onions are golden.
• Add the boiling broth to the veggies.
• Add the peas.
• Stir and bring to a boil.
• Once boiling, bring the soup to a simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until peas are softened.
• Take the pan off the heat and season with salt and pepper and add some mint leaves. *Jamie says to use a small bunch. I think this is a matter of personal taste, in terms of how much mint flavor you like to shine through. Start out small and increase until your taste buds are pleased! I added about half a bunch of chopped mint and thought it was enough for my tastes.
• Using an immersion blender (or blender), blend the soup until smooth. (If you are using a regular blender, do it in batches so the hot soup won't come out the top of your blender).
• Optional:.
• If you are using ham, chop it up into bite-size pieces and stir it into the blended soup.
• Heat the soup through before serving OR let it cool, store it in your fridge and eat it cold anytime you'd like!

FRESH PEA SOUP WITH MINT

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in large kettle over medium heat. Add onions, salt, and pepper, and cook 5 minutes until onions have softened. Sir in the garlic and cook 1 minute until its aroma is released. Add the potatoes and saute 5 minutes until they begin to color. Add the chicken stock, lower the heat, and simmer gently 25 minutes until potatoes are soft. Add the peas and cook 3 minutes until tender but still bright green. Puree the mixture either through a food mill, with an immersion blender, or in a food processor, until smooth. Place in a clean pot, stir in the cream, and rewarm gently. Stir in the fresh mint and serve.
• In Portugal, this soup is often made with fresh fava beans. Use them if you can find them. Mint (horteln) grows abundantly in Portugal and is widely used in savory dishes, frequently in combination with coriander (coentro).