A light soup of fresh peas, vegetable stock, tarragon, mint, shallots and garlic finished with almond milk and rice flour. This recipe will please vegan guests.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 31 minutes
Yield: 8, 1-cup servings
Ingredients
2 tbl butter or olive oil
2 shallots, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
½ cup dry white wine
3 cups fresh shelled peas (about 1 pound of shelled peas or 2 ½ pounds of peas in the shell)
3 cups loosely packed baby spinach, rinsed or 1 (5-ounce) bag of baby spinach
6 cups vegetable stock
3 Tbl rice flour
2 cups almond milk
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
½ tsp minced fresh tarragon
1 tsp minced fresh mint leaves
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Melt butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Stir in shallots and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until shallots start to become translucent, about 5 minutes. Add white wine, and cook, stirring occasionally, until wine is almost completely reduced, about 5 minutes.
Stir in peas and spinach, cook, stirring gently, until vegetables are evenly coated and begin to wilt, about 3 minutes. Add vegetable stock, bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until peas are completely cooked through and very tender, about 10 minutes.
Puree soup with an immersion blender until very smooth, about 3 minutes, OR puree soup in small batches in a blender (CAUTION: hot soup will expand in a blender when processing – puree the soup in several small batches). Pass soup through a fine mesh strainer into a clean large soup pot.
Whisk together almond milk and rice flour to create a slurry. Stir into pea mixture and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently. Cook until thickened and soup is the texture of heavy cream, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Divide soup among 8 warm soup bowls, garnish with tarragon, mint and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve at once.