Leek & Pea Soup w Creme Fraiche

Super quick and easy family friendly soup! You can have a quick supper or lunch ready in just 30minutes.

I love leeks, they lend a sweetness to any dish and they are a great alternative to onions as they cook in half the time. The leaves on leeks are perfectly designed to trap soil, so take extra care when washing your leeks. (see note)

I have a lovely slow roasted leek & burrata cheese recipe here.

The leaves on leeks are perfectly designed to trap soil though, so take extra care when washing them (see kitchen note).

Frozen peas are super handy to have in your freezer, they are a welcome addition to soups, pestos, pasta’s and curries.

Getting Ahead: The soup can easily be made a few days before you want to serve it. If you are making the croutons, they can also be made ahead and stored in an airtight container for a few days ahead.

Freezer Friendly: Yes, absolutely.

Seasonal Swops: You can use any soft greens here like baby spinach or chard. I would avoid the harder kale varieties like curly or tuscan (cavalo nero).

This soup goes really well with toasted rye or seeded bread or croutons made with rye bread.

The soup can be turned into a showstopper, garnished with some fresh peas, pea shoots, fresh herbs and some edible flowers flowers. I mixed a little creme fraiche with water and swirled this on top (see kitchen note)

Medium saucepan

Hand blender or food processor to blitz the soup.

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bunch large leeks/6 large leeks (330g) – light green & white parts only, washed & finely sliced
• 3 cups frozen peas, reserve some for topping
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1.2 litres vegetable stock
• 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon mint, chopped
• 4 large tablespoons (1/2 cup) creme fraiche
• 1 cup broccoli, finely chopped
• 1 lemon zest only
• 1 cup greens chopped (baby spinach and/or chard )
• salt & pepper
• a few pea shoots per bowl as a garnish (opt)

Rye Croutons (0pt)

• 1/2 loaf rye bread, torn into pieces
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• pinch salt
• olive oil

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180c.
2. Croutons: Add all the crouton ingredients in a bowl and add enough olive oil to coat the rye pieces, mix with your hands and place on a baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes or until croutons are starting to crisp up. Remove.
3. Soup:Add the olive oil to the medium saucepan, add the leeks, a few pinches of salt and sauté covered until the leeks are soft and cook down to half their volume, about 10minutes.
4. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant for 3min, add the vegetable stock, broccoli and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat.
5. Add the greens and peas and leave to cook for 3 minutes, add the herbs (reserving some for garnish) and the creme fraiche.
6. Blitz the soup with a hand-blender until smooth or to your liking, I like a bit of texture to my soup, season really well with salt, pepper and the lemon zest.
7. Garnish with the reserved peas, herbs and a drizzle of oil. 

Cleaning Leeks:

Trim the ends of the leeks and discard the outer two or three layers. Cut off the dark green top part of the leeks (wash and reserve for stocks), leaving the remaining pale green & white parts.

Finely slice the leeks and wash really well under running water & drain well.

Garnish:

Add one tablespoon of leftover creme fraiche with 1 tablespoon of hot water and mix well, you can now make trendy swirls in your soup, just take a spoonful of mixture and swirl or drip over the saucepan or individual bowls.

I love leeks, they lend a sweetness to any dish and they are a great alternative to using onions. I have a lovely slow cooked leek recipe here

Leeks have the tendency to trap earth inbetween their layers and we therefore need to give them a good wash.