Pureed Spinach And Sweet Pea Soup With Fresh Mint Cream Recipes

Steps:

• Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook onion about 10 minutes or until lightly browned and soft, stirring frequently.
• Blend onion, peas, spinach, lemon juice, thyme and 2 cups chicken broth in a blender or food processor until very smooth. Return to same saucepan. Stir in remaining broth. Gently heat about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Stir in cream, if desired. Heat over low heat about 1 minute. DO NOT BOIL. Garnish with garlic croutons, if desired.

Steps:

• In a soup pot melt butter and add onion, celery, leek, salt, and pepper. Cook vegetables for 5 minutes until translucent. Add curry powder and cook 2 minutes. In cheesecloth, combine bay leaf and thyme and tie to form an herb sachet. Add sachet of herbs to vegetables. Have stock simmering in saucepan. Add hot stock to vegetables, boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add peas and simmer for additional 10 minutes.
• Remove sachet of herbs and discard. With immersion blender, puree soup (or puree with care in batches in a conventional standing blender). Return soup and pot to heat, add creme fraiche, being careful not to allow soup to boil, reheat. Add mint and serve.

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.

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, cook the leek in the butter over moderate heat for 3 minutes, or until softened. Add the broth, peas and seasonings and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes, or until the peas are very tender. In a food processor, blend the mixture in batches until combined well. Let it cool. Chill the soup, covered, for at least 2 hours. Before serving, stir in cream and fresh mint. Garnish with mint sprigs. Correct the seasoning.

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.

Steps:

• Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add shallots and garlic. Sauté until tender, about 7 minutes. Add peas and stir 1 minute. Add 5 1/2 cups broth and bring to simmer. Cook until peas are very tender, about 8 minutes. Cool 15 minutes. Puree soup and 1/4 cup chopped mint in batches in blender until smooth. Return to same pot; thin with more broth by 1/4 cupfuls, if desired. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool, cover, and chill.
• Rewarm soup over medium-low heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls; garnish with additional mint.
• What to drink:
• A bottle of bubbly is the perfect way to begin this special meal. It's also a great pairing for the soup. We like the crisp acidity and long finish of the Champagne Henriot NV Brut Souverain ($35, France).

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.

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, and a 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring, 3 to 5 minutes. Add stock, and bring to a boil.
• Add peas, and return to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until peas are tender and bright green, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in spinach. Cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach has wilted, 2 to 3 minutes. Let cool slightly.
• Working in batches, puree pea mixture in a blender, filling no more than halfway and adding up to 2 tablespoons water to each batch to achieve desired consistency. Stir in lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Ladle soup into bowls.
• Fill a pastry or resealable plastic bag with cream. Snip off tip or corner of bag. Draw parallel horizontal lines across each serving of soup, spacing lines as desired.
• Starting at bottom, drag the tip of a wooden skewer upward through the rows of cream. Starting at top and spacing as desired, drag skewer downward through rows of cream. Repeat, reversing direction every other line. Serve immediately.