When I worked at Daniel in New York, I always knew that it was Spring because pea soup appeared on on the menu. It came in the form of a chilled multi-variety pea soup flavored with rosemary, swirled with garlic cream and topped with crumbled bacon. It remains one of the most delicious chilled soups that I have ever tasted and Daniel's clientele apparently felt the same way because, anytime a new pea soup was tried out, requests came in by the dozen to have the original reinstated. I know this because I was always the one who got to field the calls which the reservations department transferred to my line with gay abandon.
I saw peas in the market this week and decided to make my own version of the soup despit eknowing that I would have to shell the little bastards. An episode of Love/Hate later I knew I wanted fewer steps than the original soup, less restaurant gloss and to make fresh Spring pea flavor alone the star of the show. Though peas and mint are a traditional pairing, I really like the woodsy notes that Daniel's rosemary contributed to the sweetness of the peas in the original recipe so I kept that when I came up with the bastardized, simpler to execute recipe below.
Recipe
2.5 lbs fresh peas, shelled or 3 cups best quality frozen peas
10 -11 cups water
5 sprigs rosemary
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup kosher salt (NOT table salt)
Zest from 1 orange + 4 tsps juice
2 Tbsps plain or Greek yogurt
Walnut or olive oil to drizzle (optional)
Put 8 cups of the water, the rosemary, sugar and salt in a large stock pan over medium heat. Bring to a rolling boil.
While the water is heating, prepare an ice bath for the peas. Fill a bowl with water and ice cubes and put it in the freezer to get really cold. As you all know from reading this blog religiously (right?) I am not a big fan of faffing around or extra steps, but putting the peas in an ice bath serves to retain a really vibrant green color which is great for a Spring soup. You can skip this step and this will not change the taste of the soup at all but you will miss out on presentation points, so to speak.
When the water has come to a rolling boil, add the peas and cook for 7 minutes. Remove from the heat, drain immediately and put the peas in the ice bath.
Drain the peas from the ice bath, remove the rosemary sprigs and place the peas, 2 cups of the water and 1 tablespoon of the orange juice in a blender. Blend until smooth. If you feel that the soup is too thick, add some of the remaining 1 cup of water until you reach the desired consistency. Despite my aforementioned dislike of faffing around, now really would be the time to strain the soup through a sieve or tamis for an incredibly smooth soup. I didn't and I could see that it would make a difference. Grin and bear it. Place the soup in the fridge to chill until ready to serve.
When ready, adjust seasoning if needed. Mix the yogurt with the orange zest and the remaining teaspoon of orange juice in a small bowl and add some artistically to the top of each serving. Drizzle with some oil if you feel the need; I felt that the walnut oil added a few more woody undertones to the soup which I liked.
And lo and behold, Daniel's recipe is online, here.