We went out for dinner the other night and I had the fresh pea soup. It was heavenly, and I left vowing to make it.

I didn’t need to invent the wheel here, I was happy to try a recipe from the internet. And it is safe to say, they are out there! There are two billion “pea soup” recipes. But here were my criteria when I was searching:

1. No split-pea. I wanted FRESH pea soup.
2. No ham hock or bacon or pancetta. I LOVE those things, all three of them. But that is not what I had, and that is a “winter” soup. This was “spring” in a bowl.
3. No mint. I LOVE mint, in my chocolate, or my ice cream, or my mojito. But no no no not in my soup.

That list narrowed the field from two billion down to about 3. I started by roughly following this recipe. It was good. But the batch was super small. I felt like, for the work, that I should really go for it.

I went to the farmer’s market and got some beautiful spring onions. They were big and purple in color on the bottom. I used four “big” ones and that is where the changes started…

Fresh Pea Soup

4 large spring onions
2 T ghee (clarified butter)
4.5 cups of fresh peas (already shelled)
3/4 C half and half
4 C bullion or stock (or more, depending on how thick you like your soup.)
pinch of “fancy” salt (as fancy as you like, pink salt, black salt, kosher salt or really, plain old salt.)
Lovely croutons for garnish
(This combination makes about 6 servings)

In a large pot, melt ghee. Finely chop the onions and add them. Careful not to burn the onions, spread them out in the ghee and let them cook until they are limp and they have just a touch of color. This will only take about 5 minutes.

Add the stock and the peas. Bring them to a boil, then allow to simmer for about 8 minutes.

Add a pinch of salt here. (season to your taste)

Lastly, measure out 3/4 cup half and half. Carefully add some of the pea/stock mixture to the cream to warm it up slowly. (Take care not to throw the cream in all at once or it will separate)

Once it is cooked, blend the soup in small batches. If it is too thick for your preferences, go ahead and add some more stock here.

Serve in bowls, garnished with the croutons.

Makes 6 servings

DELISH!