Photo credit: © Eatwell101.comWhatever an event’s raison d’etre, a spring or summer party is filled with colors, family tradition, laughter and stories all enjoyed in an outdoor venue. Perfect for this kind of entertaining, this refreshing green peas and mint soup is very light and looks particularly trendy served in espresso cups. If you substitute thawed, frozen peas, there’s no need to blanch them.
Ingredients list for Chilled Green Pea Soup
Preparation time: 15 min
Cooking time: 7 min
Serves 4 (normal glasses) or 6 /8 (verrine /shooter glasses)
- 1 pound (400g) fresh green peas, shelled
- 1 bouillon cube
- 3 cups (75cl) of water
- 1/2 bunch fresh mint
- 1 cup (20cl) of crème fraîche or sour cream
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions
1. In a large saucepan, boil water with 1 cube of chicken stock. Add green peas and cook for 7 minutes. Drain and keep the broth for later. Plunge the green peas into ice cold water to stop the cooking and keep the green color.
2. Mix the peas with fresh mint with your blender or food processor. Add broth gradually until you obtain a fairly liquid consistency.
3. Pass through a fine mesh stainer or a Chinese strainer to get rid of the peas skin and refrigerate.
4. Make sure the crème fraîche is very cold before you assemble the soup shooters. Just before serving: whip up the cream until very firm with salt and pepper. You can refrigerate a stainless steel bowl and the whisks of your mixer before starting, this will help making the whipped cream.
5. Divide the pea soup in glass jars or verrine glasses and cover with a dollop of whipped cream. here I piped the whipped cream with a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.
