If you've tried white hot chocolate in the past and been disappointed - try this it tastes like melted milky bars even when it made with skimmed milk - result
As well as drinking hot chocolate this week food consumption has mainly been either runny and liquid based or spicy - sticking with this theme yesterday I made one of my favourite soups to warm us up on what was another freezing cold autumn day - Pea and Pesto Soup. The original recipe came from one of my favourite Nigella Lawson books, Nigella Express. I've altered it a little bit as I tend to do do but it's still easy and delicious, and it takes less than half an hour to make
Pea and Pesto Soup
750ml Water
375g Frozen Peas
1 Clove Garlic
2 Spring Onions
4 Tbsp Pesto Sauce
1/2 Tsp Of Lime Juice
1/2 Tsp Of Salt
1. Pop the kettle on, and in the meantime roughly chop the garlic, and the spring onions - there is no need to be too precise because your going to blend it later. Carefully measure out 750ml of the boiling water and pour it into a large pan, bring it back to the boil.
2. Add the frozen peas to the water and cook for a few minutes till the ice has melted.
3. Add the spring onions, the garlic, a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lime juice, simmer for about 15 minutes till the spring onions are starting to soften.
4. Then add the pesto sauce to the pan, give it a stir and simmer for another couple of minutes.
5. Now it's time to blend - it would be much easier with a stick blender, but I broke mine booo so I carefully poured into a blender. You need to make sure that the steam can get out so I left the steam vent open and covered it with a towel while I blended it. You want it to be quite smooth so it took a few pulses.
6. Then return it to the pan and check the seasoning my pesto was quite salty so I didn't need to any more salt but I did add another squeeze of lime juice, for a bit more a tang which really works with the oiliness of the pesto.
7. Pop into a bowl and eat, this is my mum's bowl I am soooo jealous of her farmhouse white bread lol
Hints and Tips
Like all recipes just use what you have I had about 420g of frozen peas, so I just added a bit more water, an extra spring onion and a bit more pesto - recipe should make around 2 bowls, but I got just under 4
In her recipe Nigella uses fresh pesto - I love fresh and homemade pesto but for ease and convenience this can still be made with pesto from a jar I just added some garlic which she doesn't use to give it some more depth.
Another variation from the original recipe is with the spring onions, Nigella leaves the spring onions whole and discards them before blending the soup. I'm not a great fan of waste so I cut mine into small pieces and keep them in - I really don't think it alters the taste too much but you can do as you please.
This is a great recipe and it's so quick to make. The pesto flavour as you would expect dominates, but you can still taste the freshness and greenness of the peas. Yummy and just what you need on a cold night x If you have any questions please let me know in the comment x Happy Cooking xx
I love whittard tea and hot chocolate, I have the strawberry white hot chocolate and it's amazing. I might have to give this soup a whirl next time a cold strikes, I love making soup but some of my favourites take forever to make sometimes, thanks for the recipe! :)
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