Minty Pea Soup and Perfectly Poached Eggs

I have never made nor have I ever tasted pea soup before in my life. Have you? An acquaintance of mine mentioned making it for Saint Patrick's Day. I did my research and created a recipe loosely based off of Ina Garten's. The funny part is that the peas most often used in pea soup are frozen, not fresh. Apparently fresh peas are much too starchy and not sweet at all! Here's the pleasantly sweet pea result.

Fresh Pea and Mint Soup

Fresh Pea and Mint Soup

Ingredients
2 tbsp organic butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 leeks, thinly sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp dried dill
4 cups vegetable broth
5 cups frozen sweet peas
2/3 cup loosely packed fresh mint
1 tsp+ sea salt
Black pepper to taste
1/2 cup plain yogurt

Directions

1. Heat butter and olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat, and saute leeks and onion until soft, 8-10 minutes.
2. Add dill, broth, and peas and increase heat to a simmer, 3-5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and stir in mint, salt, and pepper.
4. Cool slightly. Working in batches, puree soup in a food processor until velvety smooth. (Note- I tried using my immersion blender, and it could not get through the leeks! It was an asparagus soup flashback!)
5. Return to pot and reheat until hot. Stir in plain yogurt.
6. Serve garnished with a dollop of yogurt and fresh mint.

Now, poached eggs! It has been 10 days since I poached my first egg. I'm hooked. The whites are tender and the yolks are soft and just runny enough to flavor whatever else is lucky enough to be on the same plate. I got some how-to help from a wedding gift-cookbook, The New Best Recipe from Cook's Illustrated.  Instant favorite at our house!

Step 1. Get yourself some good eggs. Local is best. Organic is next-best. 

Step 2. Crack eggs into individual cups. The separate but equal cups are important, as you will need to drop the eggs into the water at eggs-actly the same time!

Crucial egg prep step

Step 3. Get your water ready. Fill a shallow skillet with water, 1 tsp sea salt, and 2 tbsp white vinegar. Cover and bring to a boil. The salt flavors the eggs, and the vinegar flavors them AND prevents the whites from getting too whispy. A shallow skillet (I used an 11-inch French covered skillet) works best, as the egg doesn't have as far of a drop and can bounce up quickly in the hot water.

Step 4. Drop the eggs at the same exact time into the water. Cover the skillet and remove from heat! Set your timer for 3 1/2- 4 minutes! (Longer for a large or x-large egg)

DON'T CHOKE!

Step 5. After the timer goes off, it's time to carefully lift the eggs out of the water and onto the plate. I used a slotted silicone spatula. If you are feeling outrageous, nest your poached egg onto a small bed of cheese!

Our most recent meal was paired with beer bread, tamari-braised portobellos, and roasted asparagus. 

thanks instagram, for making my eggs look even awesomer.

Ignore tonight's snow storm, spring is coming in 2 days! I can't wait for the outdoor farmer's market to start up so we can eat poached eggs over every other vegetable we can find.

Until next time! Happy eating!