Sunday, July 17, 2011

Pea soup, my sister's high school graduation and too many caipirinhas

Pea soup / Sopa de ervilha

I wish I could say that I made this soup for a noble reason, but the truth is that I made it for lunch because of a massive hangover. :S

It all started the night before: we’d all gone to my sister’s high school graduation prom and had a lot of fun there (I shed a few tears during the ceremony, too, I’ll admit it). Then my brother told me that I “had to try” the caipirinhas that were being served. I tried a traditional one, made with lime. That was good. Then he told me that the strawberry caipirinha was delicious, too. And the kiwi one. And the passion fruit one. And, of course, the pineapple caipirinha as well. On the following morning I was a mess: my head was about to explode, Joao had gone to work (I was on vacation) and there was nothing in the fridge. My salvation was a bag of frozen peas and a couple of slices of bread.

Nevertheless, the soup was delicious and very easy to make – that’s why I’ll share it with you today.

Pea soup
from the always beautiful and delicious Donna Hay magazine

½ tablespoon olive oil
½ onion, finely diced
2 ½ cups frozen peas
2 ½ cups (600ml) chicken or vegetable stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup sour cream*

Heat a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the oil and onion and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the onion is tender. Add the peas, stock, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes or until the peas are tender. Remove from heat and blitz with a handheld mixer until smooth (or use a food processor) - be careful because you are dealing with hot liquid. Make sure you hold the cap down on the top of the blender while puréeing. Ladle into bowls and top with the sour cream. Sprinkle with some extra pepper and serve.

* homemade sour cream: mix ¼ cup (60ml) heavy cream with 1 teaspoon lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in room temperature for 1 hour or until it thickens

Serves 2

7 comments:

  1. Did the pea soup cure the hangover? I am amazed that you managed to write this post well considering the circumstances:)

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  2. Oh you guys have high school graduation and prom together? And alcohol is served at that age? Haha how different things are between countries :). I must say all those caipirinha do sound quite delicious, as does this soup. Congrats to your sister and hope you recover quickly ;p.

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  3. You're definitely a huge food blogger haha! Well, at least it was a fruity hangover.

    The soup sounds delicious. I had no idea what to cook when our peas were ready to be picked, and now I do!

    Have a great week.

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  4. You poor thing...I always eat fast food when hung over. Bravo for you eating this.

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  5. Its probably stupidly obvious but i didnt realise you could make sour cream like that! That simple little tip has opened up worrrlldds of recipes to me now as we never normally have sour cream in the house but do always have cream :) Thank you!
    Sounds like you enjoyed the graduation lots, less so the aftermath..i feel your pain! This is a great summer recipe that i might well try with the fresh peas we have in our garden :)

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  6. This soup sounds perfect...delicious and simple to make so as not to aggravate the pounding head! Oh I feel for you...

    My hangover cure -- kimchi fried rice with egg! :)

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  7. Xiaolu, the prom here is for the entire family, not only for the students - parents, siblings, grandparents, everyone can take part in the celebration, that is why alcohol is served - for the adults! :D

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