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Pea Soup (Potage Saint Germain)

An authentic, easy French pea soup recipe for Potage Saint-Germain. Authentically made with fresh peas (or frozen), but can also be made with split peas from the pantry.

Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
15 mins
Total Time
35 mins
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 109 kcal
Course: Appetizer , Lunch
Cuisine: French

Ingredients

  • 600 g (1¼ lb/ 4 cups) fresh peas (shelled from about 1 kg) or frozen (see notes for split peas)
  • 75 g (3oz/3 tbsp) Bacon cut into strips or lardons
  • 1 leek (including the green leaves) chopped
  • 1 small carrot peeled & sliced
  • bouquet garni (bay leaf, fresh thyme & parsley stalks)
  • ½ teaspoon salt fleur de sel (Maldon or Celtic)
  • 750 ml (12 fl oz/ 3 cups) water
  • knob butter
  • fresh chervil or parsley to garnish (optional)

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. In a large, deep pot, fry the bacon bits without any fat for about 5 minutes over a medium heat (or in butter if vegetarian version).
  2. Add the leek and sliced carrot and toss around in the fat until well coated and slightly softened for about 5 minutes. Add the bouquet garni and peas, again tossing around in the ingredients for a further minute.
  3. Add the water and salt. Bring to a near boil, cover and turn down the heat. Simmer for 15 minutes for fresh peas or 20 minutes for frozen. If using split peas, simmer for 30 minutes.
  4. Discard the bouquet garni and keep aside one ladleful of the peas. Blend with a hand blender or mixer until well puréed and smooth. Stir in the butter and the ladle of peas for the garnish.
  5. Taste and add pepper and extra salt if needed.

Notes

  • Garnish: add a little fresh chervil to serve.
  • Vegetarian pea soup: omit the bacon and fry the vegetables in 15g (tbsp) of butter over medium heat in step 1.
  • Split Peas: First soak 200g of split peas in a large bowl of water for 4 hours and proceed as above. As they are not as green as fresh, add a few salad leaves and more of the green from the leek. Don't have time to soak them? Proceed as above but skim off the impurities after the first 10 minutes. However, soaking makes them easier to digest.
  • Nutritional Information per serving: 5g protein; 6g lipids, 9g carbohydrate, 0 Glycemic index.