There are a lot of things that my kids do not eat. My son, for example, does not eat anything that is red. On the other hand my daughter does not eat anything that is green. But they both have no problem eating this delicious sweet and salty soup.
I discovered the creamy pea soup with bacon when my son was very young, about 9-10 months. He started eating solid food when he was about 6 months old. The first vegetables were carrots and then we made our way through the usual (there are a lot of different schools of what to give a child when you start eating solids. In Poland one of the first foods to prepare is carrot, in the US they are tempted to stay around green food first).
Anyway, my son was a pretty good eater back then and I could quickly introduce different vegetables. That one time, I made so much pea puree that he would get sick of eating it, so I decided to use some of it for adults.
Since then this has become our go to autumn/ winter soup. And the addition of bacon makes it a perfect comforting food for cold days. On top of that this recipe can be super quick, especially if you have stock on hand.
Now, this version is not vegetarian but with a few simple changes (that I explain) it can also be a delicious vegetarian soup.
Servings: 6-8 portion
Time: Depends if you want to make the stock yourself
Cooking stock: 2h
Cooking the soup: 1h
Ingredients:
1 family bag of fresh or frozen peas (~19 oz)
1 small onion (peeled and finely chopped)
1 tbsp of olive oil
1/8 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of pepper
16 oz of bacon (you can also use turkey bacon or meatless bacon)
Vegetable Stock: You can use a carton from a store 32 oz of vegetable or chicken stock (1 carton, low sodium)
2 big carrots
1 leek
1 small onion
1 celery root
some fresh parsley
purple turnip
butter
pepper and salt
0,5 a gallon of water
Chicken Stock:
leftover chicken bones and bits
2 big carrots
1 leek
1 small onion
1 celery root
some fresh parsley
purple turnip
butter
pepper and salt
0,5 gallon of water
Appliances:
Big frying pan, dutch oven or a big pot, handstand blander
Step by Step
If you want to start with making your own stock
For the stock: peel and wash all the vegetables, and place them in a big pot (the same goes for the chicken stock). Add the water, spices and cook on a small heat for about two hours.
If you using a store bought stock skip the instructions above (which something I do as well)
Chop the onion finely, and fry it on a medium heat for 3-4 min, until it changes its color to gold. Add the frozen peas and cook everything together for 5 min.
Transfer the peas to a big pot and add the stock. Add salt and pepper.
If you made your own stock you can also add all white and green vegetables that you used in your stock. DO NOT ADD CARROTS - they will change the color of the soup to a dark one.
Simmer everything for about 30- 40 min.
While the soup is cooking, chop and fry the bacon.
After 40 min, blend the soup with a hand blender or transfer it into a standing blender. Be careful and not burn yourself.
Serve in a bowl and garnish with the fried bacon.
Tips
To ensure that any cream soups have a beautiful radiant color use vegetables that are similar colors or white. Example: if you make tomato soup do not add green veggies just red, orange and white.
You can use fresh or frozen peas, do not use peas from a can.
Other recipes:
