Green Pea Soup with Cheese Quenelles
This Green Pea Soup with Cheese Quenelles is the perfect dish to create an intimate, gourmet experience at home. The bright, vibrant green of peas, leek and spinach is complemented by delicate, pillowy morsels that float atop the soup, and melt in your mouth with every bite. The shape and texture of these quenelles elevate the soup into something truly special.
Ingredients
For the Soup
- 1/2 tablespoon butter
- 1 ounce onion chopped
- 1 ounce leek chopped
- 7 ounces green peas frozen
- 2 cups vegetable stock or chicken
- 1 ounce spinach
- 2.5 ounces cream
- salt & pepper
For the Cheese Quenelles
- 1.5 cups milk (NOTE 1)
- 1 egg white
- 1.2 ounces Emmentaler cheese (NOTE 2)
Instructions
Make the Soup
- Heat butter in a saucepan and add onion and leek and saute until soft and translucent.
- Add stock and peas and cook until peas are soft.
- Transfer soup into a food processor, add spinach and process until you have a smooth liquid. Pour this back into the saucepan and keep warm.
- Add cream to the soup and stir until blended. Season with salt & pepper.
Make the Quenelles
- Pour milk in a saucepan and warm to simmer.
- Whip an egg white in a bowl until stiff, add grated Emmentaler cheese and mix until you have an uniform mixture.
- With two teaspoon, form small egg-like 'dumpling' called quenelles and place these quenelles in the simmering milk. Poach them 3 minutes on one side, flip them and poach another 3 minutes.
Serve the Soup
- Ladle the soup in two bowls.
- With a slotted spoon, scoop the quenelles out of the milk and into/onto the soup. If you like, you can add some cheese shaving to the soup, just before serving.
Notes
- You can use low fat milk or full cream milk. Since the milk is not used in the soup itself, you can discard it. But if you prefer, you can cool it and keep it in the fridge and use it next time you're making a cheese sauce or any other bechamel-based sauce.
- The real Emmentaler cheese is gluten free, but please make sure of it, if you are gluten sensitive, as there are a lot of Emmentaler cheese imitations. The is for chicken stock. This is generally gluten-free, but some brands may add ingredients that do contain gluten.
Nutrition
Calories: 440kcalCarbohydrates: 31gProtein: 19gFat: 27gSaturated Fat: 17gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 1118mgFiber: 6gSugar: 19g