Sweet Pea Soup
with pesto and asiago grilled cheese
In early spring (or any time of year thanks to frozen peas), sweet peas need very little else to create a light soup that highlights their fresh flavor. Pesto and asiago grilled cheese sandwiches are a rich and hearty complement to the light soup.
Ingredients
- Onions, small - 1/2, chopped
- Parsley - 1 Tbsp, chopped
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Cumin, ground - 1/4 tsp
- Stock, chicken or vegetable - 3 cups
- Peas, sweet (frozen or fresh) - 3 cups
- Pesto - 2 Tbsp
- Creme fraiche (sub sour cream or plain yogurt) - 1/4 cup + 1/4 cup
- Cheese, Asiago - 1 cup, grated
- Butter - 4 Tbsp
- Bread, sandwich - 8 slices
- Pesto - 4 Tbsp
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Onions / Cheese - Prep as directed. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Parsley - Chop parsley. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
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Make
- Heat a Dutch oven or large sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add oil and then onions, cumin and a pinch of salt to heated oil. Saute until onions are tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add stock and bring to a simmer. Add peas and pesto (the portion for the soup) and reduce heat to medium. Simmer until peas are warmed through, about 5 minutes.
- While soup simmers, place a skillet over medium heat. Assemble grilled cheese sandwiches by buttering one side of each piece of bread. Place half the slices of bread buttered-side down in hot pan. Top with pesto, cheese and then add remaining bread, buttered-side up. Cook until bottom of bread is golden brown, ~3 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side until filling is completely melted, ~3 minutes more.
- Add the first portion of crème fraiche to soup (reserve the second portion for serving) and blend with an immersion blender (or in batches in a standing blender) until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve soup with reserved crème fraiche and parsley on top. Enjoy with pesto and asiago toast on the side!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
Most Helpful
Made some alterations: added 2 medium zucchini and an additional cup of stock then at the end added huge handful of baby spinach and pureed in the blender. Totally forgot the creme fraiche, but didn't miss it.
1 Helpful45 reviews
Quick and easy to make. Super tasty. I was skeptical about asiago as the only cheese in the grilled cheese, but it was melty enough and plenty flavorful.
0 HelpfulGrilled cheese was pretty good. Grilled cheese is always a hit in our house. The soup was okay. I think I would have liked it better with sweeter peas that are a little less starchy. My husband always prefers tomato soup with grilled cheese. I would try this soup again, maybe with mint.
0 HelpfulGood and easy, but wasn't quite enough food for dinner. We ended up over-eating the soup and shorting our leftovers.
0 HelpfulMade some alterations: added 2 medium zucchini and an additional cup of stock then at the end added huge handful of baby spinach and pureed in the blender. Totally forgot the creme fraiche, but didn't miss it.
1 HelpfulToo lazy to put on stakes, so just spread it out on foil in a pan. No crispiness that way, but the flavors were great. Went well with the soup -- added cayenne for kick.
0 HelpfulNot very generous in portion size. Taste great. To reduce the calories took some hard bread with some pesto and a slice of low calorie cheese.
0 Helpful