Pea Shoots and Smoked Pancetta Soup

I shamelessly acknowledge that I got the inspiration for this from The Frolicking Foodie. Until I read that post I had never heard of pea shoots, so when I saw them in Marks and Spencer yesterday I had to buy them to make the soup.

I have made a few changes (as you do!), such as using lovely Italian Pancetta instead of bacon and using a chicken stock as I had some, and didn’t have ham stock. I was also a bit concerned that the ham might overwhelm the taste of the pea shoots.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil
4 shallots, diced
1 medium potato, diced
120g Smoked Italian pancetta***
1 pint chicken stock


Method

Fry the shallots in the oil for about 5 minutes until soft, but not brown.
Add the pancetta and potatoes and continue to fry for another 5 minutes.
Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

Leave to cool a little, add the pea shoots then blend.

As frolicking foodie noted, they do try to fight their way up out of the soup, but I kept pushing them down with the hand blender (known in my family as the "feersum enjin").

Perhaps I should explain the reason for this:

Younger son and daughter in law gave me a hand blender as a housewarming present some years ago. When I was asked what I had been given, on a couple of occasions (obviously suffering from early alzheimers) I said it was an um.... And so it was christened an "Um". Later I had to buy another one, which was rather more powerful, so I christened it the "FeersUM Enjin".

Fans of Iain M Banks will understand the allusion, the rest of you will just have to scratch your heads and say "She's at it again!"

LATER

*** I think that 60g would be enough of the pancetta, and would also be inclined to try unsmoked. I would love to hear how anyone else got on with this recipe.

Risotto with Peas

This is one of my favourite risottos, as it is so easy and uses very readily available ingredients.

Daughter telephoned me for the recipe this week, so I shall share it with you.

Basically all risottos are the more or less the same, and it is worth trying out variations on the theme.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
85g / 3oz butter
3 shallots, chopped finely
115g / 4oz pancetta diced (or bacon bits)
280g /10oz Arborio rice
150ml / ¼ pint dry white wine
225g / 8 oz fresh peas
Salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese to garnish

Pour the stock into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer gently.

Melt 55g / 2oz of the butter in another large, heavy-based saucepan. Add the shallots and pancetta and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally until the shallots are softened.

Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes, until all the grains are thoroughly coated and glistening.

Pour in the wine and cook, stirring constantly, until it has almost completely evaporated.

Add a ladleful of hot stock and cook, stirring constantly, until all the stock has been absorbed. Continue cooking and adding the stock, a ladleful at a time, for about 20 minutes.

Add the peas, then continue adding the stock, a ladleful at a time, for about a further 10 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed*.

Stir in the remaining butter and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer the risotto to a warmed serving dish, garnish with Parmesan and serve immediately.

* I often find that it takes longer than 10 minutes for all the rice to be absorbed