Sweet Mint Pea Soup

Ingredients

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 small sweet onion, chopped

two 10-ounce packages frozen peas

4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

1/2 cup fesh mint, minced

1 tsp grated lemon zest

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup heavy cream

plain yogurt

In a stock pot over medium heat, melt butter.

Add onions and saute until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add peas, broth, and mint. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook 20 minutes.

Stir in lemon zest, salt, and pepper. (This was especially fun because I got to use my lemon zester for the first time. Apparently I've not been very zesty before now.)

Cover and cook an additional 10 minutes. Transfer to a blender (or use an immersion blender, I love mine) and puree until smooth.

Return to pot and stir in heavy cream.

Cook on low for 10 minutes. Serve garnished with a dollop of yogurt and a small mint leaf.

Even Loki was excited by how the soup was smelling as it cooked. It's hard to see, but there's just a little bit of his tongue sticking out because he was licking his lips. He knew how awesome it was going to be.

Here's my final product. In a little soup bowl that used to be my parents. I have a set of two. There's something very comforting about having soup in the bowls that I used to use when I was a kid.

But the important part, it tasted amazing! I also made some baked chicken with garlic powder and rosemary. Simple clean flavors that paired well with the soup. I didn't take a picture of that though, I was halfway done with it before I remembered that I should take an after shot.

He's still interested. That's really how I know that a recipe is a keeper.

Yield: 6 servings (6 cups)

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time 50 minutes

Recipe from Katie Lee, Lonny Magazine, June/July 2010 issue

More on the giant stack of books later...