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Cream of Pea Soup
1 C peas 1 C water 1/4 t sugar 2 T butter 2 C milk 1 t salt ¼ t paprika 2 T flour Cook peas, water and sugar slowly for fifteen minutes. Strain and rub through strainer. Melt butter, add flour, salt and paprika. Mix and gradually add milk. Boil one minute and add pulp and liquid from the peas. Cook one minute. Serves four.
A plain white-sauce soup that comes together in under half an hour. The only real decision is how smooth you want it.
- MeasuresC is cup, T tablespoon, t teaspoon. The quantities scale cleanly if you want to double it.
- Which peasThe recipe does not specify; fresh shelled peas suit the fifteen-minute simmer. Frozen peas work and need only 5-6 minutes rather than fifteen; long cooking dulls the colour and flavour.
- PaprikaThe printed amount for the paprika is unclear; a quarter teaspoon is in keeping with the salt and sugar here, and it is there for colour and warmth rather than heat.
- The hingeCook the butter and flour together for a moment before the milk goes in, and add the milk gradually off the heat or in a thin stream. Dumping it in cold and fast is what produces lumps.
- Sieve or blender"Rub through strainer" means pressing the cooked peas through a fine sieve with the back of a spoon, which leaves the skins behind. A blender is faster but keeps the skins; pass it through a sieve afterward if you want the smooth texture the original intends.
- Don't boil after the peas go inOnce the pea pulp is in, one minute over moderate heat is enough to warm it through. Sustained boiling flattens the fresh pea taste and can make the milk catch on the bottom of the pan.
- Seasoning and yieldThe recipe gives four servings. Taste at the end; a teaspoon of salt suits unsalted butter but will be too much if your butter is salted.