Pea & Garlic Soup
Recipe Book: Nigel Slater's Real Food Buy the book here
Review: Wow! Fab! 5 STARS all the way!! So tasty and very easy to make.
So it would appear that Nigel is friends with Nigella and he has credited her for this recipe in his book. I went through my Nigella collection but can't seem to find this recipe in the books that I have so it must be one she has personally given to him.
It didn't take long at all to make this (if you exclude the hour roasting the garlic). I think I can safely say that both my husband and I are going to stink of garlic tomorrow.
I really like that this soup just serves 2 so you can double up if more is needed.
Honestly, when you look at this soup in the dish (creamy sage green kind of colour), you kind of think, what on earth is this? My husband said it smelled like mushy peas when he walked in the kitchen tonight, but I personally thought it smelled more of garlic, but then I have sat watching TV with roasting garlic wafting through the house. But truly, it does have to be tasted to be understood. You don't have to add the cream if you don't want to and I only probably used a quick dash of it (approx 50ml) myself as I'm trying to eat healthier and this book is very much a comfort food book and I've another 3 recipes to do this week out of it! For the stock, I used half a Knorr Vegetable Stock Pot.
I have a feeling that my soup may be slightly stronger on the garlic than everyone else's as I used my homegrown Elephant Garlic which is still very fresh (apparently this type of garlic is the best for roasting so I figured why not), I also used my homegrown peas that I had previously shelled and put in a bag in my freezer but regular frozen peas will be absolutely fine.
Aga conversion: I put the garlic in the foil in the roasting oven on the grid shelf on the bottom set of runners, the oven had dropped temperature slightly and I only roasted mine for just oven half an hour and it was nice and soft. I mainly used the hot plates for making the actual soup and of course the food processor - or hand blender if you have one of those.
Will I make this again? Absolutely!