I’m not sure how old I was, or where I was, when I had my first taste of pea soup. What I do remember, rather distinctly, is that it wasn’t a very good experience. The soup was putty grey, thick, pasty and completely devoid of taste. Gag-inducing really. And so it came to be that I did not have a very good impression of this dish.
Fast forward several years to a snowy December evening in Montreal. I’m at a Girls’ Christmas party and the hostess is preparing a wonderfully fragrant, festive green soup. How lovely I thought. I take one sip from the warm bowl and begin purring with pleasure. “What is this??” I ask my friend fiendishly. “Oh. It’s pea soup” she drops casually.
Pea soup?? Pas possible!
It was pea soup, alright. Only good pea soup. I mean really good pea soup.
Minted Green Pea and Spinach Soup as adapted from the Silver Palate Cookbook:
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 2 large onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 + 1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
- 3 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 + 1/4 cup frozen baby green peas
- 2 cups fresh mint leaves
- 1 cup whole milk
- sea salt and cracked pepper to taste
—————-
Melt butter in a large pot on the stove. Add chopped onion and cook over low heat until onion is tender (about 8 minutes).
Meanwhile, drain spinach and squeeze out excess liquid. Pour chicken or vegetable stock into the pot, stir in spinach and peas and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until peas are tender, about 10 minutes.
Add mint to pot, cover and simmer for another couple minutes.
Strain soup, reserving liquid, and place solids in a blender with 1 cup of reserved cooking stock. Blend until smooth.
Return puréed soup to pot and add whole milk. Return cooking liquid until desired consistency is achieved (usually about 1 cup).
Season, as desired, with sea salt and cracked pepper.
Enjoy!
What an amazing soup. The colour is simply gorgeous! And I really love the taste of mint and pea together.
I just recently made an “okay” pea soup. Might have to give this one a try because it sounds way better =)
Thanks Kim – I’ll look in to helping you with Disqus….
Yes, mint is not the first thing we would normally think of but wow does it ever work here.
Oh, Sally, we would have fun swapping stories over a bottle of wine. My poor mom had 12 mouths to feed (I think that must be a coined phrase somewhere in Ireland :0)
yes, you can easily sub olive oil here or coconut oil if you like.
yes, most of our veggies were canned growing up. I remember the first time I tasted frozen peas – I literally thought I had died and gone to heaven :)
my experience with food in the UK period, was not very pleasant (sorry bout that :0) I’m sure there is fantastic British food, I just couldn’t find it. All the reason, to travel there again!
The mint works surprisingly well – who knew!
Thank you Anne – you are always very generous with your comments. I simply love it – ha-ha!
love it! the swirl was made with 10% cream (coffee cream) – you could also use yogurt for something sturdier that doesn’t bleed.
Yes, this was a *whole* different experience – don’t give up!! :)
ha-ha! That’s cute. Give it another try; you may be pleasantly surprised by this one.
my poor mom, having 12 mouths to feed… I can only imagine the challenges… we are living in much more privileged times. ‘Little Charles’… love it!
mmm… lentils are so wonderful and satisfying…. looking forward to seeing your post on it.
Thanks Linda – hope you enjoy it!
Yes, sweet peas are gorgeous in the spring. I think the only time of year I wouldn’t dig this soup is during the hottest days of summer :)
Merci Sylvie – the flavours work very well together.
Hi Kristy! This is the best pea soup I have ever tasted and probably in my top 3 favourite soups of all time. Truly outstanding. Hope you and your Grandpa like it :)
Okay, you have convinced me to give peas another go. I usually find them gag inducing in general; however, between your description and this photo I’m willing to keep an open mind. Hmmm…I also know my grandpa would love this, so I think I’m doing it. :)
Oh yeah, mint reallly lightens up the peas, great combo!
Peas and mint are the key to a good fresh pea soup, it adds that bright flavor that really elevates the sweet peas. This ones sounds delicious with the addition of spinach as well, I’ll have to give it a try.
Pea and mint soup taken to the next level – love it in the spring, now I’ll have to try it in the autumn and winter… Brilliant.
This sounds delish! I’ve never been a pea soup eater but with that swirl of cream and the addition of mint, this may convert me!! I like making one pot of soup for the week and I’m going to add this one into my list to make!!
yum, Kelly – this is beautiful and sounds delish! I am making lentil soup today so I guess we are thinking along the same lines!
Haha, now I know that it’s my duty to make my future child’s first pea-soup experience a good one since a great many people seem to share this trauma – me included. I’ll have to make sure I make a truly awesome soup for “little Charles” to try one day. At the very least I should make it terrible for entirely different reasons (mixing in some ghost chilli peppers should do the trick!).
Nowadays I can eat pea soup with abandon, and I love spinach too, though I don’t actually make it much. I’ve still got mint on my slowly withering balcony bush. Must have a bash at this sometime! :)
My first taste of a pea soup was much like yours . . . this I will have to try. (Have the cookbook. Experience made me subconsciously pass that one up.)
I’ve had exactly the same first experience with pea soup! It’s incredible how much a recipe can determine whether we’ll ever want to try a dish again. It’s a good thing there are second chances :)
I love realy good pea soup and with spinach I love it even more;)
Okay, I’m not a huge fan pf pea anything either lol.. but I love spinach so I may just give this a try. And I may actually like it
I guess I was one of those weird kids that loved pea soup and carrots and cabbage but I’ve always loved them. Love the triple dose of green in the recipe.
What did you swirl on top? Is it the milk or yogurt or something else?
Kelly…this is a beautiful and luscious bowl of green! I LOVE peas and I love pea soup! But I especially love the addition of spinach! Your presentation and pictures are really lovely and make this look even more inviting!
That one bowl of goodness .. healthy goodness! I make pea and spinach but never really added mint. Sounds lovely.
I haven’t had pea soup in years…ok decades. I really enjoy a good pea soup but I have never had it minted. My experience with minted peas in the UK wasn’t a pleasant taste experience. This however looks much better…creamy and flavorful.
How pretty! Love the swirl.
What a great soup! I just love that color
Kelly, the colour and presentation of your soup are perfect! And it’s even with spinach! I suppose the first pea soup you tasted was maybe made with canned peas… I prefer the frozen ones in 99% of cases. Thanks for this pleasantly Spring recipe!
i’ve never had a minty soup before! this looks delicious. i love the spinach and peas here. i’m not a big fan of butter, so i prolly would sub that out for me, but the flavors here look right on!
This looks fantastic. I’m making split pea soup this week and still have mint left hmm….
What a superb recipe! I bet this would be great hot and cold.
Have a great day.
:-) Mandy
Beautiful! Loved the swirl on top, and how healthy it – your reaction of “pas possible” made me laugh… you have no idea the kind of pea soup my Mom used to make when I was growing up… She can cook a killer pot roast, but veggies… NO WAY. She cooks them to a slow and painful death. (don’t tell her I said that.. ;-)
That’s a really healthy and nutritious soup!
I have never tried to make pea soup, I’ve made a green pea dip! Looks warm and healthy!
It sounds like a really lovely tasting soup!
FABULOUS! I have this cookbook…I believe I’ll check it out!
“”purring with pleasure””
Kelly, Yes. I believe the mint & peas would make me purr, too.
Lovely. Xx kIss from MN. Kim / http://myinnerchick.com (sorry, I don’t know how to get into Disqus!)
Kim
Yummy! This is another soup recipe that I will have to try when it gets colder. btw, I’ve just passed on an award to you so check out my latest post for details. :)
Yum, this looks really good. Split pea soup is one of my favorites in the world. I’ve never put a bit of mint in it, but it sounds delicious.