The Green Cappuccino
After several unpleasant bouts of canned pea soup as a kid, I'd pretty much written it off entirely. Pea soup became nothing more to me than an Exorcist stage prop or something to be eaten during the depression. Earlier this year I made Split Peas and Ham and it was surprisingly good. So, I reconsidered the whole idea of pea soup again and decided to make it for myself.
Green Pea Soup likely has many variations. I took the simplest recipe I could find that sounded like more than mashed peas. I used a hand mixer to liquefy the soup, which caused it to froth somewhat and resemble a cappuccino. I tried swirling cream in to make a heart or something fancy, but I failed miserably. This soup was much lighter and runnier than any pea soup I've had previous. The difference was nice at first, since having a new take on it to contrast the bad memories wasn't a bad thing, but I sort of missed the wood glue texture of the original. The flavor was refreshing, like a slightly salty shot of creamy wheatgrass, but too overpowering to really eat an entire bowl of. Perhaps with the addition of crackers or adding less broth for a thicker consistency would make this a better soup.
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No salt? I’m a salt fiend, so I have to ask.
Could you simmer your broth longer to reduce it more and make a thicker soup?
Do you put that garlic in raw, or did you saute it first?
Try this for your heart: Drop a roundish dollop where you want your heart, then drag a knife right down through the middle of it. It works for creme fraiche, and if your soup is thick enough, it should work with cream, too.
I didn’t any salt because the vegetable stock was salty enough.
I’m not sure about simmering pea soup to reduce it. I’d just add less stock. Apparently boiling it makes for quite an untasty mess. What do you know?
I put the garlic in raw.
I think if the soup were thicker the heart may have worked. I’ll try it again with a cappucino perhaps :)
Is that homemade stock?
I meant simmer the stock down before adding the peas. That will concentrate the taste of the stock, and there will be less liquid to thin your soup out.
I asked about your garlic because you mentioned the overpowering taste. Was that the overpowering taste of peas?
I like capuccino, especially with hearts in it. I wonder if that would work with hot chocolate.
Actually the salt content in the (canned) vegetable stock was too overpowering. In hindsight, the whole soup really wasn’t that good at all. The taste of garlic wasn’t very noticable.
I think I’ve seen images of it with hot chocolate. I’ve never actually seen a heart in a cappucino in real life.
Oy, that’s the trouble with packaged stock. Vegetable stock is the only stock I’ll salt when making it, but I don’t add much–just enough to bring out some of the flavor and juices when I sweat the veggies. Sauteing the garlic might help the flavor because sauteing it will help bring the garlic’s sweet flavor out and get rid of any bitter, acidic flavor that sometimes accomanies raw garlic (that’s one of the first things I think when someone describes a dish as overpowering).
Mmmm. Now I want hot chocolate!
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