Foodies: ID this soup!!

March 31, 2008 11:35 AM

Foodies: Please help me ID this soup!! Also, what are some of your all time best soup recipes?

Foodies, help me ID & find a recipe for a pea soup I had in Paris last year. It was the best soup I have EVER had! It was like agreen pea soup with a fried egg and bacon floating on top. It also had some sort of diving nectar (maybe great quality balsamic vinaigrette??) What is this? Just a ritzy French version of pea soup? If you can, point me towards a recipe!! On 2-for, what are you fav soup recipies? Thanks!

posted by CreativeJuices to food & drink (15 comments total)

I can't ID the soup, but for the second part, this red lentil soup recipe is one of my favorites.
posted by Airhen at 11:50 AM on March 31

oops, the real recipe link
posted by Airhen at 11:51 AM on March 31

If there is a recipe based on those exact ingredients I've never heard of it, but here is one I found that at least has peas and a poached egg on top: Very Very Green-Green Pea Soup,.

If I were trying to recreate the soup you describe, though, I'd go for split pea soup (made with a ham hock), and then float a poached egg and some crumbled cooked bacon over it.
posted by idest at 11:57 AM on March 31

This is the canonical AskMe soup recipe thread.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:59 AM on March 31

OK, here's how to make an incredibly simple and killer split pea soup. (This recipe is adapted from the cookbook Northwest Bounty. Pick it up, it's superb.)

2 cups of dried split peas
8 cups water
1 bone in hamhock, doesn't need to be big
1 onion, coarsely
1 Tbsp sage
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp black pepper
garlic to taste (I typically use 5 cloves)

Rinse the peas until the rinse water is no longer cloudy. This will take a few minutes of swirling and three or four changes of rinse water.

Add peas, water, hamhock, oil and onion to your stock pot. Bring it to a rolling boil and leave it there for five minutes. Give it a couple stirs, turn the heat down to the second lowest setting and leave it there, covered, for one hour. Then add the sage, pepper and garlic, bring it back to a roiling boil, then simmer on low, covered, for another hour. Serve with crusty white bread (or lay a fried egg on top of it, if you're into that).

Vegan adaptation: in lieu of hamhock, add three heaping tablespoons of miso and a teaspoon of salt.
posted by cog_nate at 12:05 PM on March 31

My fave soup is in the other thread but has a typo so here it is again fixed:

I've posted this before. Here it is again:

Creamy Carrot Ginger Soup with Lime (serves 2 to 4)

3 cups of carrot juice (buy pre-juiced carrots at the grocery store or health food store)
1 small, ripe avocado
1/2 cup coconut meat (buy it in a can for about $1.25 if you can't find it fresh)
1/4 cup of lime juice (about one reamed lime)
2 tbs of agave nectar (about $2.50 a bottle at health food store)
1/4 tbs minced ginger
1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp sea salt

1. Put everything in a blender and puree until completely smooth. Taste for seasoning.

2. Garnish with a few cilantro leaves (optional).

This soup is terrific. The recipe actually asks for 1 tbs of ginger but the times I made it it was too gingery so I cut that by 3/4s--perhaps ginger it to taste by adding last.

To be served at room temperature.
posted by dobbs at 12:06 PM on March 31 [1 favorite]

Can't help on the pea soup, but here is a killer recipe I posted here once before:

Garlic and Saffron Soup

10-12 cloves garlic
8 cups chicken stock
3-4 sprigs each of thyme, parsley, tarragon
1 pinch saffron
1 tbsp olive oil

Pour a small amount of boiling water on the saffron. Pour stock into pot, add all other ingredients. Bring to a simmer, covered. After about 45 minutes, when the garlic cloves are falling apart, take it off the heat for 15 minutes then strain out all the solids. Return to heat to bring up to serving temperature if necessary.

Serve with finely chopped parsley and a bit of good grated Parmesan cheese.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 12:26 PM on March 31 [5 favorites]

Where in Paris did you eat this soup?
posted by redfoxtail at 12:38 PM on March 31

There is also this AskMe.
posted by jejune at 12:45 PM on March 31

In the Bastille district at a cafe. I originally got it on a "platter" that included many other offerings like pâté, cheeses and fruits, ham and an assortment of "salads". When the soup was in a small cup included in the platter it did not have the egg, bacon or "balsamic vinaigrette" on it, it was just the soup. (if that means anything)

Thanks for all the qucik answers, please keep them coming!
posted by CreativeJuices at 12:46 PM on March 31

My standard pea soup (from fresh, not dried split peas) is to saute some onion or shallot and a garlic clove or two in butter. When they're soft, I add a bag of frozen baby peas and enough chicken stock to cover, and simmer until the peas are just soft. Sometimes I'll sneak in a bit of coriander, garam marsala, or similar to give it a slightly different edge. Add a few leaves of basil or mint and puree with a couple of decent blobs of heavy cream (or creme fraiche) and add a few drops of lemon juice. For a really beautiful, refined texture, you can laboriously force it through a fine sieve. The process sucks but the result is silky and marvelous, particularly if you used enough cream.

Oftentimes I'll sub in the chopped stalks of a bunch of asparagus for half the peas, and then garnish the the steamed, sauteed asparagus tips, a few peas, mint chiffonade, and a bit of crispy bacon or prosciutto. I imagine a wee little fried quail egg would be killer on it, actually.
posted by mostlymartha at 1:34 PM on March 31 [1 favorite]

I should add that the recipe I posted above is from Stephanie Alexander's always brilliant Cook's Companion.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 1:38 PM on March 31

I have no idea about the pea soup, but this recipe for butternut squash soup is one of my all-time favorites. Every single person I have served this to has wanted the recipe.
posted by saucy at 4:30 PM on March 31 [1 favorite]

Was it Soupe aux pois cassés?
posted by GeckoDundee at 5:18 PM on March 31

This beetroot with Feta soup is delicious, and an excellent way to get rid of too much winter beetroot. Eating too much may give you a surprise the following morning.
posted by biffa at 12:56 AM on April 1