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

1. 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.
2. Add the chopped onions and garlic to the pan, and saute till translucent ( about 7 mins.).
3. Add peas to the pot. Stir occasionally until the peas are completely thawed.
4. Add stock and water, bring to boil, then turn heat to medium till peas are tender. Stir occasionally.
5. Fish out the bay leaves, season with salt and pepper.
6. Remove soup from heat; use a hand blender or food processor to puree the soup till smooth.
7. If the soup is too thick, gradually add more water. Add salt and pepper, if needed.
8. Ladle into serving bowls, drizzle lemon juice.
9. Garnish with Greek yogurt and cat crouton, serve immediately.

Cat Crouton

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
2. Mix oil and vinegar in a small bowl to create a vinaigrette.
3. Cut out 4 cat-shapes from the bread slices with a cookie cutter.
4. Brush both sides of the slices with the vinaigrette.
5. Place the “cats” on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. 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.
7. Remove the croutons from the oven and let cool.