Zuppa Prosciutto e Piselli

Name: Zuppa Prosciutto e Piselli (Pea and Prosciutto Soup)
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: extra virgin olive oil or crème fraîche; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; 250 g (9 oz) prosciutto hock; 1 head celery, trimmed and coarsely chopped; 2 red onions, peeled; 1 bunch fresh mint; 2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped; 2 kg (4.½ lb) peas, shelled (keep pods for the stock); 50 g (2 oz) butter; Parmesan, freshly grated; 2 tablespoons olive oil

Pea and Prosciutto Soup

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The River Café Cookbook

By Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers

Published 1995

About

Large fresh peas have a distinctive floury texture which is perfect for this soup. It is cooked slowly with the hock or tough end from a prosciutto.

Ingredients

2 kg (4.½ lb) peas, shelled (keep pods for the stock)
250 g (9

Europe
Italy
Starter
Soup
Mediterranean
Gluten-free

Method

To make the stock, gently simmer the prosciutto hock with the celery, one of the onions cut in half, the stalks of the mint, the carrots, pea pods and water to cover by 2.5 cm (1 in). This will take 1-1.½ hours.

Chop the remaining onion finely.

In a large, heavy saucepan, fry the chopped onion gently in the olive oil and the butter until light brown. Add half the mint leaves and