Italian Pea Pottage Recipes

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion; cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add frozen peas, and stir in stock. Season with salt and pepper. Cover, and cook until the peas are tender, about 5 minutes.

Steps:

• Place peas in a bowl and cover with water to a depth of 2 inches above the peas. Set aside to steep six hours or overnight. Drain peas and place in a soup kettle.
• Add bacon, carrots, onions and turnips and stir to mix well. Cover with water to a depth of 1 inch above the mixture. Add sage.
• Place over medium-low heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat until soup is barely simmering, cover and simmer 2 to 3 hours or until peas lose their shape and start to become creamy. Add a little boiling water from time to time if necessary. You should have a thick soup, but not what we think of today as porridge.
• When soup is done, remove bacon chunks. Saute bacon in butter until brown on all sides.
• Add salt and pepper. Soup may be put through a sieve and cream may be added if desired to make it a bit richer.
• Serve garnished with the fried bacon chunks, sippets (triangles of thin crustless bread lightly fried in butter or bacon fat) and a little minced mint.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees, with rack in lowest position. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium. Add onion and carrots; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add beef, and cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce; bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until meat mixture has thickened, 8 to 10 minutes; set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk flour, Parmesan, baking powder, rosemary, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; make a well in center, and add butter and milk. Stir just until dough comes together.
• Spoon meat mixture into four 8-ounce ramekins; mound dough on top. Place on a large rimmed baking sheet; bake until topping is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in topping comes out clean, 10 to 12 minutes.

Steps:

• Place peas in a bowl and add water to cover by 3 inches.
• Leave overnight for cooking in the morning or soak all day to cook for dinner.
• Drain peas and discard water.
• Place peas and bacon in a large pot and add 8 cups fresh water.
• Bring to a boil over high heat, then turn heat down to gently simmer for 2 hours or until peas are soft and easily mashed.
• Add water if necessary to keep from burning.
• Serve with pilot crackers (the modern equivalent of ship's biscuit) and beer for a true shipboard meal.

Steps:

• Make the croutons:
• In a bowl drizzle the bread cubes with the butter, tossing them to coat them well, and in a shallow baking dish bake them in a preheated 350°F. oven, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, or until the croutons are golden and crisp. Season the croutons with salt. The croutons may be made 1 day in advance and kept in an airtight container.
• Make the soup:
• In a large saucepan cook the leeks in the butter over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until they are softened, add the broth and 2 cups water, and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the peas and the lettuce and simmer the mixture, covered partially, for 10 minutes, or until the peas are tender. Stir in the mint and in a blender or food processor purée the soup in batches. The soup may be made 1 day in advance and kept covered and chilled. Return the soup to the pan, season it with salt and pepper, and reheat it over moderately low heat, stirring, until it is hot.
• In a small bowl beat the cream until it is thickened slightly but still pourable and season it with salt. Ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle drops of the cream on each serving, and draw a skewer or knife through the drops, forming decorative patterns. Serve the soup with the croutons.

Steps:

• Cook the bacon in a large saucepan over medium heat for 7 to 10 minutes, or until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan, cut into small pieces, and set aside. Add the onion to the pan and cook for 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Add the stock, peas, bacon pieces, and 2 cups of water, and simmer for 1 hour, skimming away any impurities that rise to the top. Add the pepper, salt, and aniseed and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the parsley and duck, and serve immediately.
• Original recipe from The Accomplisht Cook, 1660:
• Boil green pease with some strong broth, and interlarded bacon cut into slices; the pease being boiled, put to them some chopped parsley, pepper, anniseed, and strain some of the pease to thicken the broth; give it a walm [warm it] and serve it on sippets, with boiled chickens, pigeons, kids, or lambs-heads, mutton, duck, mallard, or any poultry. Sometimes for variety you may thicken the broth with eggs.