Creamy Curried Pea Soup

I wanted to make a meatless meal for dinner Monday (ever hear of "Meatless Monday?" If you're on Twitter or Facebook, you may have seen mention of it. Check out this website for more information). So I decided to look through our Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health cookbook, because all the recipes are vegetarian.

When I found this recipe, I knew this is what I would make: Creamy Curried Pea Soup. YUM! who doesn't like curry, peas, neufachetel cheese and more? The soup turned out really well, and it was easy to make, although I had a few issues with it. I'll post the recipe and exact instructions, and then I'll tell you how I made it.

Creamy Curried Pea Soup

• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 1.5 cups chopped onions
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 teas. salt
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 Tbs. curry powder (I used hot curry powder)
• 1/2 teas. ground turmeric
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups fresh or frozen peas
• 3 cups fresh spinach (about 5 oz.)
• 1/3 cup packed fresh cilantro, large stems removed
• 1/8 teas. ground black pepper
• 4 oz. neufchatel cheese

In a soup pot on medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the onions, garlic and salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions soften, about 5 minutes. Add the carrots and cook for another 3 minutes. Stir in the curry powder and turmeric. Add the broth and 1 cup of peas, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until all the vegetables are very soft, about 15 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the spinach, cilantro, black pepper and neufchatel. In a blender in batches, puree the soup until very smooth. Stir in the remaining cup of peas and add salt to taste. Reheat gently on low heat--don't let boil.

So it sounds really easy, right? And it would have been, but I think I read the directions too many times and confused myself. At first, I thought you were supposed to add all the vegetables except the last cup of peas and puree it then. So I added the vegetables, but then I got confused, and thought no, you add everything but the spinach and then puree. So I used tongs to get most of the spinach out and pureed the soup then. But then I realized the spinach was supposed to be pureed, too! (I think I had been in the kitchen too long at this point!)

Long story short, I don't think it matters too much what veggies you puree or what you leave whole. However ours turned out was really good--great flavors and a bit of heat. I really liked it; Nate said it could use some protein, whether it be chicken, tofu or something like chickpeas. It's not a bad idea, and something I would consider next time. We served the soup with some naan, which really hit the spot.