My six year old is an unusual child. She has a refined palate for someone so young. She’s not shy to tell me whether she thinks a dish needs more seasoning or whether it needs more acidity. How she knows this, I have no clue!
She certainly loves flavours from all over the globe and asks me to make dishes from the Philippines, Korea, Thailand, Japan, the Caribbean, Greece…you get the picture.
For supper a few weeks ago, she requested soupe aux petits pois. She remembered having it in a restaurant last year and wanted me to make it. We have a little thing we like to do together. We go to restaurants and if we enjoy a dish, we come home and try to recreate it. We try to remember the flavours, ingredients, textures, mouth feel, and then reproduce that dish in our own kitchen. It’s a really fun activity we enjoy doing together.
Plus, getting kids familiar with the kitchen, ingredients, the art (and science) of cooking helps get them excited about eating the dishes they help create.
For our Soupe aux Petits Pois, I prefer it chilled, but my six year old believes all soups should be served hot. Either way, this soup is refreshing, light, and rather whimsical!
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- ¼ cup spring onion, sliced thinly/biased cut (reserve a few to garnish at end)
- 1 potato, diced small
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 3 cups frozen petits pois
- Salt and pepper
- In a large pot, heat olive oil and butter. Sautee the sliced spring onions and diced potato. Fry for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Let simmer until potato is tender (that should be about 10 minutes).
- Once potato is tender, stir in the peas, bring to the boil again.
- Let cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Season to your liking with salt and pepper.
- Remove the pot from heat, and with a blender or hand blender, blend until you get a silky, smooth consistency.
- To serve: Divide soup equally into 6 portions. Garnish with sliced spring onions.
As for the garnish, Little One reminded me that there was a Parmesan “cracker” that came with our Soupe aux Petits Pois at the restaurant. She insisted that I replicate the dish to the very last detail. I had never made Parmesan crisps before, but gave it a go. I actually wasn’t sure how they would turn out, but was pleasantly surprised with the results!
Parmesan Crisps
Yields 16 crisps (or crackers, as Little One calls them).
Ingredients:
All you need is 1 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated! How simple is that?!
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Place parchment paper, silpat, or silicone baking sheet onto your baking sheet. If you’re worried about sticking, you can grease your sheet, but I haven’t had any issues with sticking. I find the cheese is greasy when baked that it is easy to remove the crisps from the baking sheet when done.
- For each crisp, pour a heaping tablespoon of the shredded Parmesan onto your sheet and gently spread it out. I spread mine out into a long strip, but you can make your crisps into any shape you wish. Circular crisps are pretty too!
- Make sure to space your Parmesan crisps at least 1 inch apart.
- Bake in 400 degree oven for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from oven and gently and let cool before using them as garnish! Be very gentle when handling, as the crisps are very fragile and delicate once cooled.
The parm looks yum and of course, the soup too! Beautiful pix!
My kids are definitely not thousands and pea soup would unfortunately get a big yucky. I wish that they would be a little more adventurous like your daughter. Daddy would love this though:).
such a nice activity to do together! sounds wonderful
Looks delicious!
Isn’t it fun to gave a gourmand in your family? I think that is the correct term for a person who is particularly interested in good food. I think it is wonderful to have your child so interested in cooking. My girls, at that age, were more interested in eating what I cooked. I think I will give this recipe a try. I like all the ingredients. The crisps look so fragile and delicate. Thank you so much for both reciipes.
YUM! And those Parm crisps look amazing. 🙂
I think this is one of my favourite posts of yours. How fun! Sounds like you and your little lady share a love of cooking and appreciation of good food. Great bonding time for Mum and daughter!
What a great way to bond with your daughter and use your creativity! I love cheese crisps.