Celebrate the green arrival of April with this simple, flavorful pea soup. Tarragon, mint, and parsley sing Spring! Spring! Spring!
While lemon zest and scallions give this easy soup a lift. Delicious hot or cold, enjoy for an at-home lunch, side dish, or a lovely first course. In the unlikely event of unused leftovers, wring the soup through two layers of cheesecloth for a delicate pea broth that is amazing with fish!
Spring Pea Soup
Peas are, in my book, the only vegetable that is better frozen than fresh. That is doubly true in this soup, where the petit pois (a.k.a. baby peas) make this blended soup perfectly smooth and light. If you can’t find baby peas, make sure to push the soup through a sieve after blending and discard any pea protein left in the sieve once it has reached a clay-like consistency. This recipe is vegan made with vegetable stock, as below, but it also great with chicken stock if that is your preference.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3 scallions, whites and light green portions, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon dried tarragon
- 20 ounces frozen petit pois, a.k.a. baby peas (2 packages)
- 21/2 – 3 cups low sodium vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon dried mint
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
Directions
In a medium saucepan, heat extra virgin olive oil over medium-low heat and sauté scallions until softened, 2-3 minutes. Add the tarragon and cook for only another 60 seconds to bloom the flavor.Stir in frozen peas, dried mint, and enough vegetable stock to just cover the peas. Turn burner to low and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the peas are just cooked and tender.
Once the peas are cooked, turn off the burner and stir in lemon zest and fresh parsley (reserving a pinch of each per serving, for garnishing). Taste for seasoning, and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Pour the peas and most of the stock into a blender and blend on the highest speed until as smooth as possible, adding more stock to thin the soup as needed. If you want a really velvety soup, pass through a fine mesh sieve or a chinois.
Serve hot or cold, garnished with parsley and lemon zest.
The Flavorsmith 
This looks beautiful. Tarragon and peas love each other!
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