Day 21- Chilled Pea and Mint Soup

Please excuse my post being one day late. We hosted a little Christmas party last night, and I didn't have time to write.

Yesterday, in attempts to brighten our rather stark white apartment with holiday spirit, I bought some jelly letters to put on our window, and a small little Christmas tree made of bells for our table.

I put the red and green letters on the window spelling out Happy Holidays. My dog, minutes later, started growling. I thought maybe she heard a dog or something in the hall, and just ignored her. But she continued growling and looking at the window. The jelly letters? Are you kidding me? I was incredulous. I showed her some letters and her tail uncurled and she snaked away.

I couldn't believe that my big dog in a little dogs body, was afraid of the jelly letters. Maybe she wasn't afraid, as so much as offended by the tacky-ness of them. Darien was initially skeptical about the window lettering, when I messaged him about my holiday decorating, but I assured him that it was all very tastefull.

I wanted to make a soup that would be kind of Christmas-y and fun to eat. I thought that a chilled pea soup would be perfect. The color was a nice green, almost the same color as a grasshopper (an alcoholic drink made with Creme de Menthe, Creme de Cacao, and light cream, and it tastes like an Andes mint) and I served the chilled soup in martini glasses. It was almost like drinking a savory virgin cocktail.

It was a bit risky serving a chilled soup, but my friends were all good sports and gave it a try. I will be the first to admit that the soup had separated a bit, and it wasn't phenomenal. That being said, I think the soup would be great in the summer, and I would advise two things. One, do not skimp on the mint, it really add flavor to the soup, and second, that you chill it in a bowl first, give it a good stir before you portion (I had portioned it directly into my glasses and didn't stir before serving).

Chilled Pea and Mint Soup
Source: Good House Keeping Step by Step Cookery
2lb of fresh peas or 1lb of frozen peas
20z of butter
1 onion chopped roughly
600 ml or 1 pint of milk
600 ml or 1 pint of chicken stock
6 large sprigs of mint for soup, and 6 small for garnish
pinch of sugar
salt and pepper
150 ml of single cream

Directions
If using fresh peas, shell peas. Other wise use frozen peas (no need to defrost them). Melt butter in a saucepan, add onion and cover and cook gently for 15 minutes until it is soft but not brown.

Remove from heat and stir in the milk, stock, peas, mint, sugar and seasoning. Bring to a boil, stirring. Cover and simmer gently for about 20-25 minutes. Until peas are really tender.

Place soup in blender or use immersion blender and blend to form a smooth puree. Pour into a bowl and adjust seasoning and cool. Stir in cream and chill for 2-3 hours. To serve garnish with sprigs of mint.