(Raw) Lemon Thyme Sweet Pea Soup

I’m finding that most of my creativity in the kitchen comes as flashes of inspiration rather than a thought out process. There are times when I do think about something that I want to make and how to go about it, but very often now an idea just flashes into my mind and I think “yes, let’s try that”.

This morning I was wandering through my garden and looked at the pot of lemon thyme, and wondered what ever I was going to do with it. That was one of my impulse buys ~ it smelled great, looked pretty, and so I bought it.  But then the question of practicality came in ~ what does one do with lemon thyme?

I still haven’t gotten around to looking online to see what other people do with it, but when I was deciding what to make for lunch and thought of raw pea soup, and then the thought came – that might be a nice vehicle for the lemon thyme! And it was….

So here is my recipe for raw sweet pea soup with lemon thyme, based on Mitradeva’s raw pea soup (Thanks Mitra!) This is one of the easiest recipes I know of, and everyone likes it:

• 1 package of frozen sweet green peas (technically not raw, as I think most veggies are blanched before they are frozen, but close enough) – fresh peas would be outstanding in this recipe if available

• hot water, enough to blend to the desired consistency

• salt & pepper to taste

• dash of fresh or ground garlic

• a small handful of fresh lemon thyme

Add all of the ingredients to the blender and blend into a delicious soup. Since the peas are frozen, I used enough hot water to get the right consistency, then I put it back into the fridge until we were ready to eat, as I’m not very fond of lukewarm soup. This is also nice slightly warmed, but you probably want it to be either warm or cold, not somewhere in between.

And or course, garnish with a sprig of lemon thyme!

It’s always a big hit, as the simple flavor is so nice with whatever else is on the menu, and it can be customized in so many ways – you could add more garlic, oregano for an Italian version, lemon and tomato for a sweet pea gazpacho… the possiblities are endless.

Back tomorrow with a post about why I think my container garden is doing so well.