There was a real nip in the air today. I shivered as I turned the broomstick ready to fly to do a small errand. Suddenly I couldn’t see my hand in front of my green face! What was happening? “Zanzibar,” I called. “Zanz, where are you?” “Here,” he answered. But I couldn’t see him anywhere. “Where’s here?” I asked him. “Here’s here,” he replied. “This is like the good old days, a real pea-souper of a fog.”
“And what’s that?” I asked him a bit cross because the swirling fog was goingto make my little flight difficult, if not impossible.
“A pea-souper” said Zanzibar importantly, “is when fog is so thick it could be pea-soup.”
“Oh,” I said. “Well it means my errands won’t get done.”
And then I had a brilliant idea. When the world seves you a pea-souper, make pea soup.
So we did. And I put a little Zanzibar in the middle – just because he was hiding in the pea-soup fog!
To Make my wonderful pea soup – which we’ll call Cat in a Green Tureen – just follow these steps:
Soup:
- 20 oz. frozen green peas
- 1 sweet onion, chopped
- 6 large garlic cloves, minced
- 3 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 cup of water
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ tsp cumin
- 1 tsp. salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- lemon juice (one lemon)
- yogurt and cat croutons for garnish
Cat Crouton
- 4 slices of toast
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
Preparation time: 30 mins.
Cooking time: 30 mins.
Servings: 4
Soup
- Heat olive oil on medium high heat in a medium sauce pan with bay leaves.
Tip: Use a food processor or chopper to chop up the onion and garlic — roughly cut the onion into wedges and dice it up with garlic cloves with a few pulses. Your kids can help with this step, especially if they’re not ready to use a knife. - Add the chopped onions and garlic to the pan, and saute till translucent ( about 7 mins.).
- Add peas to the pot. Stir occasionally until the peas are completely thawed.
- Add stock and water, bring to boil, then turn heat to medium till peas are tender. Stir occasionally.
- Fish out the bay leaves, season with salt and pepper.
- Remove soup from heat; use a hand blender or food processor to puree the soup till smooth.
- If the soup is too thick, gradually add more water. Add salt and pepper, if needed.
- Ladle into serving bowls, drizzle lemon juice.
- Garnish with Greek yogurt and cat crouton, serve immediately.
Cat Crouton
- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Mix oil and vinegar in a small bowl to create a vinaigrette.
- Cut out 4 cat-shapes from the bread slices with a cookie cutter.
- Brush both sides of the slices with the vinaigrette.
- Place the “cats” on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake in the oven for around 8 mins. until the side facing down is brown; flip the slices then bake for another 6-8 mins.
- Remove the croutons from the oven and let cool.
