7$ soup to feed 7: Peas Please

Peas are a great legume, but outside of England they seem to be a little neglected. This recipe actually combines two neglected delectables: peas and tarragon. The woody anise flavour of the tarragon is a nice accent to the naturally sweet peas.

This is a delicate, but filling soup, with a great colour.  It’s easy to make, but your guests’ll think you slaved away. It’s best with fresh English peas, but a bag of frozen peas will work just as well. Feel like experimenting? Try mint instead of tarragon, or blend the two.

What you’ll need…

1 tbs butter

1 medium white onion (0.50)

1 bag of peas  750 g  (2.00)

¾ cup Sweet potatoes  (0.75)

5 cups vegetable or chicken stalk (1.50)

¼ cup heavy cream (1.00)

1 splash dry white wine (0.25?)

1 bunch tarragon (1.25)

Optional garnish: bacon or goat cheese

Preparation

• Peel and chop onion coarsely
• Peel and cube the sweet potatoes
• Wash the tarragon, strip leaves from steam and chop Reserve seven 4cm top tufts for garnish

Turn Up The Heat

1. In a large pot melt 1 tbs of butter, add onions and cook on medium until translucent.
2. Add sweet potatoes, peas, and stock. Let simmer for 25 minutes on medium low.
3. Test to ensure that potatoes are cooked through by piercing a larger potato morsel with a fork. The potato should give no resistance, for soup you don’t want to keep the potato’s integrity in tact. If the potato breaks apart, then you know you’re in business.
4. Remove soup from the burner and let cool down for five minutes.
5. Blend with a hand blender, adding cream, tarragon, and wine while blending.
6. Salt to taste. Taste before salting, store bought stock is pretty sodium rich.
7. Serve garnished with a sprig of tarragon, a crumble of goat cheese or a drizzle of cream, and if you’d like, a dusting of bacon bits.

Bon Appetite!

Delightful Delight

Now, I promised myself not to write like an asshole, but the Delight chocolaterie is a true delight. I absolutely love everything about it, from the location to the products, to the staff—Jennifer Rashleigh and Jeff Brown got it right. Nestled in the Juntion (Dundas & High Park ave.), just out of reach of the hipsters’ usual stomping grounds, this unassuming organic chocolaterie and creamery serves up mouthfuls of delight.

The shop is small, but they provide a seating area that can comfortably sit about two couples and a small family, or seven lonely chocolate munchers. The space is open allowing patrons to watch as the chocolate artisans beaver away on scrumptious morsels. And the staff is very approachable and, in my experience, knowledgeable, and will gladly answer your neophyte chocolate questions.

What I love about Delight is that they aren’t just a chocolate shop, but they operate under a few different guises. During the winter they’re a café serving up fair-traded locally roasted coffee (Alternative Grounds), but once summer hits they sport a new face: they are the ice cream kings of Dundas. Delight makes ice cream throughout the summer showcasing ripe Niagara region fruit. I should note that while their alternating fruit flavours are phenomenal, you shouldn’t over look their staple selection: chocolate (dairy full and dairy free), mint chocolate chip, and blue cheese.

Their chocolate ice cream is so rich it should be taxed, and their dairy-free version could fool the most critical of vegans. My all time favourite is the mint chocolate chip. It tastes like no other—first of all, it’s not dyed some gaudy green; second, you can taste the real spearmint; and finally, the chocolate chips are small truffles that melt in your mouth! Now, I know that blue cheese ice cream sounds a little off putting, but as an accent to the fruit flavours it’s really quite sublime. It isn’t a harsh bleu cheese, but a mild one, made in Quebec, that offers a small kick to finish every lick.

So, back to the fruit ice creams— the season began with strawberries, transitioned into raspberries and blueberries, and is now reveling in apricot. I hear pear is still on the way. The pear should pair (haha) nicely with their blue flavour. So far my favourite has been strawberry. Perhaps that’s because it was made with fresh (and I believe organic?) field strawberries, or maybe it’s because once the strawberry season waned so did the ice cream. So, maybe it’s that everything tastes better from a nostalgic point of view, or maybe that was the best mother fucking strawberry ice cream of my life.

They are open Tuesday to Thursday 9-9, Friday 9-10, Saturday 10-10 pm, Sunday 11-6. Closed Monday. I would recommend it as a nice way to round off a Junction date. Grab some scoops in their homemade waffle cones (also amazing) and stroll on over to High Park for some evening canoodling.

 

SERVICE 5/5

AMBIANCE 4/5

PRESENTATION 4/5

TASTE 5/5

PRICE $