Marrowfat Pea Soup

This marrowfat pea soup is made with quick-boil packets of marrowfat peas, garlic and herbs, topped with a swirl of creme fraiche and cracked black pepper.
This was the most visited post on abitmoreveg. I’m pretty sure it because of the photo. See that cute little heart in a healthy bowl of soup? I didn’t even set out to make it look like that. I was just trying to make a swirl and it went a bit wrong- and ended up like it did. As that has proved to be a popular look I tried to recreate it when making it again for this post. I ended up with a large blob in a bowl of soup that kind of looked like a skull. Oh well, twimii is what it is…

The original recipe used greek yoghurt. But when I made it for twimii I first used greek yoghurt and then I tried creme fraiche. The creme fraiche is what makes this taste really great. It’s nowhere near as healthy though – but it tastes better. But if you want to be healthier it still tastes good with the Greek yoghurt.
Marrowfat peas are high in vegetable protein and fibre, low in fat and they are also a source of iron. You can find packets of no-soak marrowfat peas in any supermarket and they are very cheap. Most people use marrowfat peas to make mushy peas but you can also, easily and fairly quickly, use them to make a warm and satisfying bowl of soup.

Ingredients
- 125g no-soak marrowfat peas
- 1 litre of vegetable stock or water
- 4 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- pinch dried thyme
- pinch dried mint
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
- 1/2 lemon (juice)
- creme fraiche
Instructions
- Heat a little oil in a saucepan. Add the garlic and fry it for a minute but don't let it turn brown or crispy at all. Add in 750ml of vegetable stock or water and bring to the boil.
- Once boiling add in the peas, bring to the boil again for a minute, then reduce heat and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
- Add in the rest of the stock and stir in the herbs. Increase heat and bring to boil, then reduce heat, cover the pan and leave to simmer for a further 5 minutes.
- Blend the soup to a smooth consistency with a hand blender. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and stir in well (be sure to remove the pips first). Taste and season if necessary.
- Laddle into a bowl, stir in a teaspoon or so of creme fraiche - don't blend it in, allow the streaks of white to show. Sprinkle some coarsely ground black pepper and enjoy!


