Rouge Tomate's Spring Pea Soup

By Executive Chef Jeremy Bearman

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Spring Onion diced
• 2 cloves Garlic Degermed
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 cup Idaho Potato Diced
• 3 cups Milk
• 1 cup of water
• Salt 
• 1 cup Shelled English Peas (preferably fresh but can work with frozen)
• 1 cup Sugar Snap Peas
• 8 oz Pea Tendrils
• 10 leaves of mint
• Pepper 
• ½ cup 0 percent Greek yogurt
• ½ lb Peekytoe Crab
• 2 Tsp Almond Oil
• 1 Tbsp Chopped chives
• 1 Tsp Lemon Juice
• ¼ cup Slivered Almonds Toasted
• ½ Tsp Lemon Zest

Method of preparation:
In a medium size sauce pot over a low heat, sweat the spring onions and garlic in olive oil until tender. Once tender, add the diced potato, milk & 1 cup of water. Cook on medium heat until potatoes begin to fall apart. Set aside at room temperature.  Generously add salt to a new medium pot of boiling water.  While boiling, add the peas and cook until soft but still nice and green. Remove peas from the hot water and shock in Ice water to set the color and stop the cooking.

Do the same for the sugar snaps and pea tendrils.  Remove peas, sugar snaps and tendrils from ice water and place in a large blender; add mint and potato and onion mixture which should still be quite hot.  Blend ingredients together until the same consistency adding a little water if the soup seems too thick.  Salt and p epper to taste. 

Place a metal bowl into a bigger bowl filled with ice water. Pass mixture through a fine strainer into the smaller metal bowl chilling quickly in order to maintain that nice green color.   When soup is chilled and ready to serve (otherwise the acidity will turn the green color brown in a couple of hours) add the yogurt and check the seasoning again. As a garnish, mix together the crab meat with the almond oil, chives, and lemon juice and sprinkle a couple of almonds around for presentation.

Rouge Tomate
Address: 10 East 60th St., btwn. Madison & Fifth Aves.
Phone:(646)237-8977