French Fridays with Dorie: Cheating on winter pea soup

Dorie Greenspan Cheating on Winter Pea soup Around my French tableIt seems I’ve been making a lot of soups lately. Which I am totally ok with.  Neil’s been out a lot in the evenings recently and when I am on my own at home for dinner, I’m pretty lazy and usually just have cereal or toast. In the bitter cold winter days we’ve been experiencing lately though, cereal just doesn’t cut it and soup has been my “go-to” in the evenings with a piece of toast and butter. Not fancy but comforting and healthy.  So this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe (Cheating on Winter Pea Soup, p 59) was actually a perfect one, given our weather and my solo dining situation of late…

Except, you know, when you are all geared up to make a recipe and realise you don’t have the major ingredient in your house. And it’s too darned cold to head out to pick it up. No matter, the main ingredient being frozen peas, I simply used frozen edamame which I pretty much always have on hand – useful to throw in a stir fry or a soup and packs a little more protein punch than frozen peas.

This soup is a simple one – onions, lettuce, broth (I used chicken stock) and peas (or edamame). Served with a dollop pf plain Greek yoghurt, some spring onions and and some crumbled bacon bits, it was a nice change and made me realise that hey, you can pretty much use anything in a soup. I’ve never thought about using lettuce before but since making this soup have used it twice to avoid throwing out a lettuce too wilty for a salad but not bad enough to compost. Genius!

Using edamme rather than peas meant the soup’s flavour was probably not as “spring-like” (or “cheating on winter”) as it should have been but it was definitely tasty.

Around my French table French Fridays with Dorie Cheating on Winter pea soup

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43 thoughts on “French Fridays with Dorie: Cheating on winter pea soup”

  1. Edamame is a wonderful substitution Mardi! I agree this type of soups are the perfect, quick dinner, especially when home alone and nobody asks for the next course… Have a great weekend!

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  2. We have been having howling winds here. I have tried unsuccessfully to explain to the puppy that some days one should not leave the house for any reason. The edamame was a good substitute.

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  3. Hey – peas are green, edamame is green – it’s all good 🙂

    I don’t even want to admit how the girl and I usually eat dinner when it’s just us – and if I am on my own, things get even scarier…

    Great picture, by the way.

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  4. Pingback: ffwd: cheating-on-winter (not)pea soup « a bend in the road
  5. Your edamame soup looks great and your post made me wonder why I don’t keep it on hand to toss into fried rice which I make regularly. Its now on my grocery list!

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  6. Although I had every ingredient hanging out in my kitchen, I also have a frozen package of shelled edamame peas in my freezer. I liked this soup so well – the lettuce idea was new to me also – that I will probably make it again next week with edamame, thanks to you. I strained mine but liked the looks of your better and it would be more filling. Maybe a little garlic? Your version just seems even healthier to me. Great idea, Mardi.

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  7. Brilliant idea to use the edamame! (Even if it was mere circumstance of convenience!) It definitely fit with our tastes better. I love how creamy your soup is – wish mine could have been so smooth! It’s so pretty!

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  8. I know what you mean about going to amke something then realising you are missing a key ingredient – I made cake this week that needed yoghurt, and it looked like it was about to sotrm, so I compromised and ran to the corner shop for some cream instead – it worked!Love your photo – in winter, what could be better than warming your hands on a bowl of soup.

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  9. Soup is so perfect for cold bitter winter, especially when you don’t need to go out for the ingredients. For some reason, I’ve never bought edamame. I’ll have to pick some up and try it. Your soup looks like a nice variation.

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  10. I have to admit I did not know what edamame was and just researched the name.
    I guess you are never to old to learn. Your soup looks great and I am glad you were
    able to substitute and have it turn out well. Have a great weekend.

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  11. Hey, that’s what at the heart of cooking anyway–using what you have! I still think you cheated on winter even though you had a substitute for peas and a better protein source. The green onion sounds like a bright note of flavor as well.

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  12. Ha! I think the most surprising thing I learn here is that Mardi will eat cereal or toast for dinner when nobody is looking! I’m kinda shocked! You read my post… did you hear my grandmother’s voice too telling you not to go shopping for soup?

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  13. That’s an inspired substitution.Edamame would have been a bigger hit for my partner than peas. He’s not a fan. I love the colour of the soup against the vibrant blue bowl in your photos.

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  14. So sorry for the late comment. Nana and I had too much fun traipsing around to see the Barefoot Contessa and I ended up coming down with a miserable cold 🙁 Good thing I had all this fabulous soup to enjoy – Dorie’s, Ina’s and then we broke down and bought some Trader Joes 🙂 And just LOVE that top photo- awesome !!

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