sugar snap pea and buttermilk mint soup
Several days ago, we had this unusual hiatus to our typical 95 degree July heat. We had three wonderful days of cloud cover and beautiful rain – with an amazing rare double rainbow thrown in for good measure. It looked like the pot of gold was hidden directly behind my neighbor’s house – just stunning.
Ever since I spotted this recipe, I have been dying to try it. But, to be honest, the word soup and summer in the same sentence is enough to make my stomach turn. Just when it looked as if I was going to miss my opportunity, this amazing respite from the heat was upon us and I found myself actually putting on a light fleece just to keep warm in the early morning. I love that. I made this soup for dinner one of the nights and it was a light yet satisfying meal. This would be wonderful served alongside a salad of wild spring greens or paired with some whole grain muffins.
This recipe was inspired by Delicious Living magazine – which called for shelling the peas. However, I just couldn’t bring myself to discard all those gorgeous, nutritious, crunchy sugar snap shells. So, I included them – everything is pureed and strained in the end so it’s no matter. From start to finish this soup took me just over 30 minutes to make. If you’re pressed for time, just make sure to prep your buttermilk first – see note below.
Place 2 tblsp grapeseed oil in a dutch oven or stockpot with
1 1/2 cups Vidalia onion (sweet onion) and saute until translucent
then add
2 cups sugar snap peas (unshelled), roughly chopped
2 tbslp fresh mint
2 tblsp fresh parsley
4 cups (one 32-ounce box Pacific brand) vegetable broth
bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and puree in a blender in 2 or 3 batches. Next, strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove any pea shell strings that remain. Finally, stir in
1 cup buttermilk (see note below)
I made my own buttermilk here. Simply measure out 1 cup dairy free milk. Using a measuring spoon, remove 1 tablespoon of milk from the measuring cup. Now it’s time to add an acid to the milk. You can either use 1 tblsp freshly squeezed lemon juice or 1 tblsp apple cider vinegar. The trick is to let the buttermilk sit for as long as possible prior to adding it to the recipe. As such, I made the buttermilk first and let it sit for the 20 minutes the soup was simmering.
Tags: dairy free sugar snap pea and buttermilk soup, Pacific vegetable broth, vegan sugar snap pea and buttermilk soup
Great recipe – healthy and for me, I’m usually not a soup lover, but this looks delicious (especially with the buttermilk)… I also found some great recipe ideas by a gal that is very dedicated to gluten-free cooking and researching – Tina Turbin at http://www.glutenfreehelp.info – worth a visit!
Thanks Rosie. I will definitely check out Tina’s site. I am always inspired by what others in the GF community are up to :)
I make soups all winter long – and love my immersion blender. (For some reason I forget to make cold soups in the summer.) I understand completely why you left the sugar snap peas intact. I use buttermilk a lot in my cooking but never use all of it. This would be a great way to make good use of some I have in my refrigerator right now. Thanks for sharing this.
Amy
Hmmm….I don’t have an immersion blender….that sounds like something I would use a LOT. Might have to put that on my list…
it’s funny because the second day I was eating this as left-overs I actually didn’t heat it up – it actually tasted delicious cold. I usually don’t make cold soups either. But, I think this one has inspired me to give it a shot….