Unfortunately, in my childhood we did not have a vegetable garden. But I remember clearly that there was a small bed behind our house where some berries grew. But in the summer, something else was thriving here that I found even more exciting: a pea plant. And even today I remember the smell and taste of the thick, ripe peas straight from the pod, eaten out of hand right next to the plant. Sweet, slightly grassy fresh and for me the perfect summer association.
And it is this summer flavor that I wanted to capture again with my little pea soup. Where pea soup always sounds heavy and autumnal. This is exactly what I wanted to avoid. Therefore, a velouté together with a pea stock (from the pods) forms the basis. Served with some grilled fennel, cheeks of monkfish and, for a light crunch, small croutons of pumpernickel.
And for once almost no spices, even the salt in the soup I have reduced to a minimum to direct the focus clearly on the pea. Only the crutons were mixed after the strong roasting with plenty of coarse sea salt to set in between again and again small salty accents.
And the best thing: apart from the pea stock, everything is prepared in no time and comes very close to my idea of a fresh, crunchy and sweet summer pea…
Recipe for my velouté of pea with monkfish cheeks
as an appetizer for 4 people
800gr extremely fresh and juicy peas
300ml light fish stock (ideally from monkfish)
300ml white wine
300gr monkfish cheeks
1 shallot
1 fennel
Pumpernickel
Lemon
50gr flour
50gr butter
coarse sea salt
Preparation
- Remove the peas from the pod. Dice the shallot and sauté. Deglaze with 100ml white wine and 200ml fish stock.
- Then slowly simmer the pea pods in the broth for about 60 minutes with the lid closed and 95 degrees. After that, everything happens very quickly.
- For the velouté, melt 50gr of butter, add the flour and slowly pour the remaining fish stock and white wine and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Fry thin slices of fennel in plenty of butter until crispy.
- Meanwhile, drain the pea broth. Heat again and blanch the peas in the stock for no more than 2 minutes and immediately cool in ice water to prevent them from losing their color.
- Now sear the parried monkfish cheeks in a hot pan for about 90 seconds on each side.
- Place the peas, pea stock, and velouté in a high-powered blender (in my case, the Vitamix) with a squeeze of lemon juice, three mint leaves, and the dark green part of the fennel greens, and blend on maximum speed for 60 seconds.
- Ideally, the peas are not only pureed without residue or traces, but the vigorously blended velouté should result in a foamy, light consistency.
Pour into the preheated small soup plates and then place a small mountain of the roasted fennel, on top the monkfish cheeks and generously spread the toasted bread. If you like you can drape some fennel greens and a few small leaves of mint. Et voilá.
