On St. Patrick's day I discovered this little soup recipe and could not resist it. I find that it has a wonderfully subtle flavor to it that in a typically Irish way warms the spirit and brings joy to the heart. I enjoyed first preparing this soup to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the Sinsinawa Dominican Community in San Antonio, Texas. We gathered around the table to enjoy food, good conversation, laughter, and prayer. May this soup bring similar graces to you. (Serves 4)
Ingredients
* 1 onion (peeled and chopped)
* 1 medium potato (peeled and chopped)
* 4 tablespoons of butter
* 1 quart vegetable stock
* 10 ounces of small green peas (I used the frozen ones)
* 1 bunch of fresh mint (finely chopped)
* 1 cup milk (cold)
* Optionally, you can add salt and pepper to taste; however, I tend to like it without.
Cooking Instructions
Sweat the potato and onion in the butter over very low heat for 10 minutes to soften the potato and onion but not to brown or color them. Add the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Cover and let it simmer for about 20 minutes or until the potato is tender. Raise the heat and stir in the peas and let simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, add then mint and then immediately purée in a blender, add the cold milk as youo do so. Optionally, season with salt and pepper to taste. Reheat the soup slowly over low heat before serving. You can also save a couple of mint leaves and garnish the soup when serving.
Enjoy.
Blessed Dominic Collins, S.J. was an Irish born Jesuit brother and martyr who similar to St. Ignatius Loyola was born into an upper class family, was involved as a soldier, and decided to leave behind treasures and sword to become a Jesuit.