Pea and Samphire Soup

A colourful and moreish bowl of summer pea soup, packed full of bright green peas and crisp, sea-air samphire. Chilled or heated this sweet and salty soup with its refreshing tingle of mint and sage is the perfect way to savour and enjoy our good old British pea.

Peas

We have peas on the allotment!! Peas in their pods! And look how pretty they are. Peas are in season right now and so of course I have to make a soup! As with all seasonal veg i’ve come across this year, I feel the need to celebrate and preserve all that fresh. locally produced goodness in a lusciously, tasty and full-flavoured soup. Have a peek here at my spring cauliflower, chickpea and ginger soup and spring purple broccoli, pear and mascarpone soup.

How to make Pea and Samphire Soup:

My Herb Garden

My little herb garden at the side of our house has also sprung to life this last month and how can I possibly ignore the summery bright blues of the cornflower or the vibrant, shocking pinks of pineapple sage. My apple mint has also gone absolutely crazy and nearly crawled straight out of the garden and in through the window.

Well maybe not quite that crazy.

But there is certainly a lot of it.

And don’t ask me why pineapple sage or why apple mint – I have no idea – this mish-mash of herbs just kind of happened this year. I maybe got a bit carried away at a little herb stall outside Altrincham market one weekend. But anyway, point being that standard mint and standard sage will work just fine in this recipe.

Pea and Samphire Soup

To sit alongside our little peas I decided that I would use samphire for this soup. Pea and mint is the traditional way and yes of course I have still used mint (I have plenty of it in my garden). However, to keep things interesting I’ve thrown in the salty, sea air flavour of samphire, which really helps to intensify the sweet flavour of the peas and the refreshing punch of  the mint. Plus – who doesn’t love a bit of samphire at the moment?

I also have a sneaky suspicion that this soup might work equally as well as a sauce for a chunky piece of freshly, pan-fried white fish. Complete with crispy skin of course – Yummy!

I digress . . . so pea soup! I love it! I really do, although I know its not to everyones taste, but I feel the addition of samphire may just convert some pea-haters. . .maybe. My own mother, who was decidedly against pea soup, could not dispute that this recipe was a cut above the rest.

So if in doubt – all I can say is that there is plenty of peas kicking about at the minute and this recipe takes just 30 minutes to throw together, maybe even less if your a whiz with a knife and have a super-duper blender, so why not give it a go if you have a spare half hour?

My latest batch of this pea and samphire soup has already been slurped up, so I definitely need to get making some more asap. It keeps marvellously well in the freezer and so not only can it come in handy for a quick last minute starter for that grand dinner party you’ve just decided to throw, but its also really useful as an emergency sauce for a week night dinner. Fab, Fab, Fab 🙂 Enjoy!

Nutritional information for this recipe>>

**Estimated nutritional information per bowl of pea and samphire soup and per 100g. If you want to find out more about how the information is calculated and the sources used, please refer to my Nutrition Information Guide.

Pea and Samphire Soup

A colourful and moreish bowl of summer soup, packed full of bright green peas and crisp, sea-air samphire. Chilled or heated this sweet and salty soup with its refreshing tingle of mint and sage is the perfect way to savour and enjoy our good old British pea

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Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 30 mins

Author @ ProperFoodie: Debbie

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 300 g chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 500 g un-podded peas 200g podded
• 150 g samphire
• 2 tsp dried mint
• 500 ml warm water
• 15 g fresh mint chopped
• A few leaves of pineapple sage finely chopped or standard sage
• Salt and pepper to season
• Topping: Creme fraiche or yogurt cornflowers, pineapple sage flowers and mint leaves

Instructions

• Place the oil in a large pan and put over a low heat. Add the onions and garlic and gently cook for 2-3 minutes. Once the onions have sweated down add the podded peas and samphire and continue to cook over a low heat for a further minute.
• Next add the dried mint and warm water then stir well. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. The peas will turn bright green.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the fresh mint and sage leaves.
• transfer the soup to a blender in batched and blitz until smooth.
• Taste the soup and season if required.
• At this stage soup can either be reheated or chilled (depended on your preference) before serving. Alternatively; transfer to sealable containers and freeze for up to 3 months.
• In the above pictures the soup is chilled then spooned into bowls and topped with creme fraiche, cornflowers, pineapple sage flowers and mint leaves.

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