A Cheap Green Peas Soup

Modern cookery for private families · Acton, Eliza · 1845

Source: Modern cookery for private families
Status: success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (12)

For the base

three quarts of the shells ↝ Crab, soft shell [Shellfish]
equal quantity of boiling water salted as for peas ↝ Water, tap [Tap water]

For the soup

two quarts of it
a quart of full grown peas ↝ Peas, green, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
two or even three large cucumbers ↝ Cucumber, raw [Other vegetables and combinations]
as many moderate-sized lettuces freed from the coarser leaves and cut small ↝ Lettuce, raw [Lettuce and lettuce salads]
one large onion (or more if liked) sliced extremely thin and stewed for half an hour in a morsel of butter before it is added to the soup, or gently fried without being allowed to brown ↝ Onions, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
a branch or two of parsley ↝ Parsley, raw [Not included in a food category]
a dozen leaves of mint ↝ Spearmint, fresh [Spices and Herbs]
a small teaspoonful, or a larger quantity if required of salt ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]
a good seasoning of fine white pepper or of cayenne ↝ Spices, pepper, white [Spices and Herbs]

For serving

a dish of small fried sippets ↝ Bread, vegetable [Yeast breads]

Instructions (11)

Wash the pea shells very clean and throw them into an equal quantity of boiling water salted as for peas.
Boil for twenty to thirty minutes, until they are quite tender.
Turn the whole into a large strainer and press the pods strongly with a wooden spoon.
Measure the liquor.
Put two quarts of the liquor into a clean deep saucepan.
When the liquor boils, add a quart of full grown peas, two or three large cucumbers (pared, quartered, and freed from seeds), three moderate-sized lettuces (freed from coarser leaves and cut small), one large onion (sliced extremely thin and stewed for half an hour in a morsel of butter or gently fried without browning), a branch or two of parsley, and, if liked, a dozen leaves of mint.
Stew these softly for an hour.
Add a small teaspoonful (or more if required) of salt and a good seasoning of fine white pepper or cayenne.
Work the whole of the vegetables with the soup through a hair-sieve.
Heat the soup afresh.
Send it to table with a dish of small fried sippets.

Original Text

A CHEAP GREEN PEAS SOUP.

Wash very clean and throw into an equal quantity of boiling water salted as for peas, three quarts of the shells, and in from twenty to thirty minutes, when they will be quite tender, turn the whole into a large strainer, and press the pods strongly with a wooden spoon. Measure the liquor, put two quarts of it into a clean deep saucepan, and when it boils add to it a quart of full grown peas, two or even three large cucumbers, as many moderate-sized lettuces freed from the coarser leaves and cut small, one large onion (or more if liked) sliced extremely thin and stewed for half an hour in a morsel of butter before it is added to the soup, or gently fried without being allowed to brown; a branch or two of parsley, and, when the flavour is liked, a dozen leaves of mint. Stew these softly for an hour, with the addition of a small teaspoonful, or a larger quantity if required of salt, and a good seasoning of fine white pepper or of 41cayenne; then work the whole of the vegetables with the soup through a hair-sieve, heat it afresh, and send it to table with a dish of small fried sippets. The colour will not be so bright as that of the more expensive soups which precede it, but it will be excellent in flavour.

Pea-shells, 3 quarts; water, 3 quarts: 20 to 30 minutes. Liquor from these, 2 quarts; full-sized green peas, 1 quart; large cucumbers, 2 or 3; lettuces, 3; onion, 1 (or more); little parsley; mint, 12 leaves; seasoning of salt and pepper or cayenne: stewed 1 hour.

Obs.—The cucumbers should be pared, quartered, and freed from the seeds before they are added to the soup. The peas, as we have said already more than once, should not be old, but taken at their full growth, before they lose their colour: the youngest of the shells ought to be selected for the liquor.

Notes

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