I am not going to say growing your own shoots, harvesting them, and sieving the fibrous bits from the soup is a doddle in the park. It isn't. But I can say this soup from the first spoonful to the last packs a punch, albeit with a small but determined fist delivered via the combined flavour of the youngest, impossibly fresh peas more akin to green candy than a vegetable and the sweetest spinach without a bit of astringency though neither peas or spinach are included in the ingredients. Add ceps, garlic, thyme, a bit of cayenne or chili powder, butter, and cream, and you have a soup that slams the WOW-meter skywards. One caveat is that it needs to be eaten shortly after being made because its lush, herbaceous brightness fades into increasing and disappointing rankness.
This late winter, three beds of peas were planted thickly so to allow for an abundant pea shoots harvest. In the below photo, the pea seedlings have been thinned to about ten centimetres/four inches from each other leaving enough room for them to mature into pea-bearing plants.
Ingredients
makes four ample servings
Rinse the shoots well.
Put them on an old tea cloth and with another tea cloth on top, dry them until excess moisture is gone. They will look fluffy and be springy to the touch when sufficiently dry. Chop them fairly finely.
For hydration and separation of grit for the ceps: pour boiling water over the ceps in a bowl and let them steep until the water is coolish to the touch, about fifteen minutes. Work them in the bowl with your fingers and then pour the entire contents into a sieve positioned over a measuring jug. Put the ceps back into the bowl and cover with cool water from the tap. Repeat squishing, sieving, and covering with fresh water till the sieved water is much lighter in tone and you have one and half litres.
Mince them, and also the garlic. Add thyme and cayenne/chili powder. Measure out butter and flour.
Over medium low heat, melt butter. Saute garlic, ceps, thyme, and cayenne/chili powder for about five minutes until fragrant and somewhat softened.
Stir in the shoots. Keep stirring until they cook down significantly, about ten minutes. Stir in the flour. See that brown crust in the corner of my beloved cast-iron pot? Per the gentleman over at his youtube channel, Binging with Babish, that's the wondrous stuff of a chef's dreams, simply called fond.
Add the ceps' liquor which will deglaze the fond, bring to a simmer, and cover. Cook for about twenty minutes. Sieve. Pour back into pot, add cream, and salt & pepper to taste. Reheat if necessary.
Mix about two tablespoon of tomato paste with cream to make the mixture liquid enough for drizzling over a soup serving. In the below photo, it's too thick, but oh so good and would be perfect smeared on hot toast. I just added more cream until it poured from a spoon.
Splotch some tomato cream over a serving and top with a bit of minced pea shoots. I adore this soup. Let's just say this was the closest I ever felt to The Plant Kingdom, and that's coming from one who has been smitten with plants since toddlerhood. I can imagine Treebeard sipping a cup of this and smiling.
À la prochaine!
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Pea shoots & Sausage Couscous
This late winter, three beds of peas were planted thickly so to allow for an abundant pea shoots harvest. In the below photo, the pea seedlings have been thinned to about ten centimetres/four inches from each other leaving enough room for them to mature into pea-bearing plants.
Ingredients
makes four ample servings
- Pea shoots, fresh, 300 grams
- Ceps, dried, 2 small handfuls (a gowpen!) plus their sieved soaking liquor, 1.5 L
- Garlic, cloves, peeled, 2
- Butter, sweet, 2 T
- Flour, white, 2 T
- Thyme, dried, 1.5 tsp
- Pepper, cayenne, ground or chili powder, a large pinch
- Cream, 8 T
- Garnish: tomato paste, cream, and minced pea shoots
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Rinse the shoots well.
Put them on an old tea cloth and with another tea cloth on top, dry them until excess moisture is gone. They will look fluffy and be springy to the touch when sufficiently dry. Chop them fairly finely.
For hydration and separation of grit for the ceps: pour boiling water over the ceps in a bowl and let them steep until the water is coolish to the touch, about fifteen minutes. Work them in the bowl with your fingers and then pour the entire contents into a sieve positioned over a measuring jug. Put the ceps back into the bowl and cover with cool water from the tap. Repeat squishing, sieving, and covering with fresh water till the sieved water is much lighter in tone and you have one and half litres.
Mince them, and also the garlic. Add thyme and cayenne/chili powder. Measure out butter and flour.
Over medium low heat, melt butter. Saute garlic, ceps, thyme, and cayenne/chili powder for about five minutes until fragrant and somewhat softened.
Stir in the shoots. Keep stirring until they cook down significantly, about ten minutes. Stir in the flour. See that brown crust in the corner of my beloved cast-iron pot? Per the gentleman over at his youtube channel, Binging with Babish, that's the wondrous stuff of a chef's dreams, simply called fond.
Add the ceps' liquor which will deglaze the fond, bring to a simmer, and cover. Cook for about twenty minutes. Sieve. Pour back into pot, add cream, and salt & pepper to taste. Reheat if necessary.
Mix about two tablespoon of tomato paste with cream to make the mixture liquid enough for drizzling over a soup serving. In the below photo, it's too thick, but oh so good and would be perfect smeared on hot toast. I just added more cream until it poured from a spoon.
Splotch some tomato cream over a serving and top with a bit of minced pea shoots. I adore this soup. Let's just say this was the closest I ever felt to The Plant Kingdom, and that's coming from one who has been smitten with plants since toddlerhood. I can imagine Treebeard sipping a cup of this and smiling.
À la prochaine!
RELATED POSTS
Pea shoots & Sausage Couscous
