Sweet Pea Soup with Lemon-Pepper Cream

Time for another recipe!  I got this recipe from McCall's magazine, April 1997 issue.  It's actually from the Easter dinner menu and I made the whole thing that year.  Everything was delicious and beautiful.  All the dishes had such distinct flavors and colors.  It was stunning visually.  I was able to use my china which is a white on white pattern so all the food took center stage.

Here is the menu as presented:

Sweet Pea Soup with Lemon-Pepper Cream
Mimosa Beet Salad
Rosemary Leg of Lamb with Roasted Tomato Compote
Risotto Primavera
Parsleyed Baby Carrots
Strawberry Shortcake Sundaes

If you are interested in the rest of the recipes from this menu, let me know.  I am happy to post them as well.  Can you just picture all those colors?  Bright green soup, followed by the ruby beet color in the salad, and then the orange carrots and bright red strawberries.  Gorgeous!

This recipe is for the soup course and it was so good.  I think it was my first experience with fresh thyme and I have been loving it every since!

Sweet Pea Soup with Lemon-Pepper Cream

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 (10-oz) russet potato, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 (10-oz) firm ripe pear, peeled, cored, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
4 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 (10-oz) pkg. frozen peas
1 bunch watercress, rinsed, 8 small sprigs reserved for garnish
1 tsp. salt
Freshly ground pepper

Lemon-Pepper Cream

1/2 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

In a 4 quart Dutch oven, melt butter. Add potato, pear and onion; cook, covered, over low heat, stirring often, 20 minutes, until potato is tender.

Add chicken broth and thyme; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover; simmer 8 minutes.

Add peas and watercress; bring back to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 3 minutes. In blender, puree in batches. Add salt and pepper.

For the Lemon-Pepper Cream: whish together ingredients.

To serve: Ladle 1 cup soup into each of 8 bowls. Serve hot, at room temp or chilled. Drizzle with Lemon-Pepper Cream. Garnish with reserved watercress.

Makes 8 servings. Per serving: 172 calories, 10 g fat, 21 mg cholesterol, 818 mg sodium

***My notes:  I don't eat onion, so I didn't put it in.  Most likely I did use a bit of garlic or some chives.
Also, if you use a good thick Greek yogurt rather than sour cream you can cut out some calories.  If you make your own chicken stock and skim the fat, there's another savings on fat and sodium.  You might could try half the butter and half olive oil as well.  Personally, I think a good squeeze of lemon juice would make up for the salt and cut out some of the sodium.  And none of these changes will skimp on flavor.