A Taste of Spring

Frozen peas, while you may not believe me, actually do taste like fresh peas in many cases depending how you use them. Mainly because fuits and vegetables are flash frozen at extreme temperatures, and like in a bad Sci-Fi original movie, they're placed in suspended animation. Once thawed peas are able to retain much of their structure with little breakdown of sugars or complex protien chains. Thus, fresh tasting peas.

That's why this dish is a staple around here during the winter months. It's fresh and sweet, a respite from the bite of winter winds. It's perfect with some slightly toasted, left over bread and a pat of butter. This jade soup is also easily adaptable to whatever you have on hand. Often times I use some diced bacon to salt it. Other times I use basil, cilantro, or mint to put some more spring in its step. This time we went with some sour cream - very yummy, the sour white once swirled into the striking green soup is truly fantastic. Fuck, I love sour cream. It makes food better. (Yeah, I swore on the blog, that's how much I love sour cream.)

Kids, may or may not like this. If you decide to serve it to them, give them the sour cream, bacon, basil, or what have you and let them customize it themselves. Interactive meals have more flavor anyways.

This dish is very quick and easy to prepare. Hope you enjoy! (And look, I avoided using the word pea-ness! Go me!)

Springtime Pea Soup
Serves 2, recipe can easily be doubled

What You'll Need...
16 oz of frozen peas
14 oz of chicken or veggie stock
4-5 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper to taste
sour cream (optional)
4 tablespoons of butter

What You'll Do...
1) Melt butter in a large pot. Saute the garlic for a minute, it shouldn't brown, but it should cook just enough to release some of the garlicy sweetness.
2) Add the peas and stir until slightly defrosted, eyeball it. Add the stock before the garlic burns. Salt and pepper.
3) Bring to a boil then turn heat to low and simmer for 6-8 minutes, until peas are tender.
4) Take off heat and let cool slightly. Use a hand blender or place in a stand blender in batches and puree. Garish with sour cream.