Fresh Pea Soup

It’s officially the last day of this semester for me. On Monday I’m moving from the small student city of Jyväskylä to Helsinki. These last days are really busy for me, therefore this post today will be short. But this recipe will be great for you, who wants to prepare something simple (all my recipes seem to include the word simple, heh) and summery in the weekend. Just head to the nearest market, or market place if you’re lucky to have one near, get a lapful of fresh peas, take some time to shell them, and prepare this soup.

This time I didn’t use anyone else’s recipe, but improvised. The soups are one of the easiest dishes to improvise, aren’t they? I am not so accustomed in kitchen that I could easily prepare any dish without using a recipe, but I do that with Italian and Mexican food, like pastas, pizzas, risottos, enchiladas, quesadillas…and soups. I guess by doing you learn, right?

Have a sunny Friday!

Fresh Pea Soup

400-500g fresh peas (the weight after shelling), you can also use frozen peas

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 clove garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

400-500ml light chicken or vegetable broth

half teaspoon dried marjoram

1 small bay leaf

salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

50ml heavy cream, whipped and spiced with a pinch of salt

Heat up the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add onion and garlic, and cook until soft and transparent.

Add the peas, marjoram, chicken or vegetable stock and the bay leaf. Let boil gently until the peas are cooked, but be careful with overcooking so that they won’t lose their beautiful green color.

Take the soup off the heat, remove the bay leaf and puree using a stick blender. Season with salt and black pepper to your taste.

Serve with a spoonful of lightly whipped cream and a pinch of black pepper. And better, with freshly baked sour dough bread, which unfortunately we didn’t have.