croutons

the pea soup has such a great depth of colour — This pea soup has such a great depth of colour
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The French just seem to have a way with food, don’t they?

When visiting France, we always look forward to our first can of Petit Pois. Only recently, did we realise the one we really liked had lettuce with it. Lettuce? Well, that sowed the seed for this recipe.

It took a number of trials, but we believe this to be the winning formula – and “it’s yumptious” as my great niece told me.

For the soup – 8 servings

1kg frozen peas – petit pois are best
25gm flat leaf parsley leaves only, no stalks*
30gm lettuce leaves (from green ‘floppy’ lettuce)
40gm Salted butter
1 ltr Vegetable stock
Salt

Wilt the lettuce in the butter and set aside
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* Keep the stalks for your next batch of vegetable stock.

For serving

Some finely chopped parsley for the garnish
Bread rolls or Croutons

You will need

Saucepan
Hand-held or small stand-alone liquidiser

Making the Pea soup

Trim the lettuce until you have the correct weight of green leaf.

Over a medium heat, melt the butter in a saucepan, add the lettuce and stir gently until it’s wilted. Remove the mix to a dish and set it aside.

The peas, parsley and stock just a-bubbling in the pan — The peas, parsley and stock
all a-bubbling in the pot
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Into the same pan (don’t clean it – whatever is left is good flavouring) place the peas and enough stock to cover them. Add the parsley on top.

As it heats to simmer point, stir occasionally, making sure there’s enough stock to keep it all covered. Keep simmering for a few minutes until the peas are just cooked.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the lettuce and remnants of the butter.

After it’s cooled a while, liquidise well – really well.

Adjusting to taste

At this point, you need first to adjust the soup to the right consistency. If you think it’s too thick, add more stock in small quantities. We believe this soup is far better thinner than thicker.

Once the consistency is right, add salt. Keep tasting until this is just right as well. Don’t add pepper. The black specs will spoil the look.

'Le crunch' from croutons are a great addition — ‘Le crunch’ from croutons are a great addition
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As with so many of our recipes, this soup is much better after a night in the fridge. The flavours come together and seem to enrich themselves.

A ‘minty’ enhancement

If you want a little something extra, go ‘minty’. Start by adding 25gm of mint leaves before liquidising, with more if you want a hefty minty kick.

Serving the Pea Soup

Reheat the soup but do not let it boil. Stir well and check again if it needs more salt and more stock. If you’ve used all your stock, skimmed milk is OK.

Pour into warm bowls and add a sprinkling of finely chopped curly parsley on top.

For ‘le crunch’ add some croutons but don’t let them become soggy. To make sure this won’t happen, serve them separately.

This really is a ‘yumptious’ soup.

Piers and Lin
from the Galley of
Play d’eau

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Cut the bread into 15mm squares and place them in a bowl — Cut the bread into 15mm squares
and place them in a bowl
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Although we are fans of Crouton Soldiers, ‘normal’ croutons can be used to great effect to bring ‘le crunch’ to any liquid dish.

For the Croutons

1 slice of bread/person
Light olive oil

You’ll need

Kitchen paper
Teflon non-stick cooking mat
Baking tray

Making the Croutons

Carefully cut the sliced bread into 1.5cm squares. Tip: Leave the bread on a plate overnight to dry out and start to go stale. Makes it easier to work with.

Drizzle some light olive oil on them and mix with your hand — Drizzle some light olive oil on them
and mix with your hand
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Put the squares in a bowl and gently sprinkle some light olive oil on them. With your hand, mix it all about without damaging the bread. Add another sprinkling until all of them have absorbed some oil and are lightly basted.

Remove the squares from the bowl and place them on a Teflon non-stick cooking mat on a baking tray and add one last sprinkling of oil. Make sure none of the squares are touching one another.

Place the tray in a pre-heated oven at 170 degrees for 10 minutes or so, removing them when they are golden brown. Tip: be careful with the timing – they can quickly over cook.

When they’re done, lift them out and pour them on some kitchen paper to absorb any surplus oil before placing them on a separate dish.

They should be crunchy and gorgeous and not taste of olive oil (that’s why you use a light olive oil).

Use them as soon as poss. They tend to pick up the dampness in the air and go soggy.

Piers and Lin
From the Galley of
Play d’eau