Pea and White Truffle Soup with Parmesan Galettes

Serves: 4-6
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 3 minutes

Ingredients

For the soup: 

• 250g (9oz) frozen peas or petit pois, plus 1 tsp for the galettes
• 450ml (15fl oz) hot vegetable stock
• a few thyme springs, leaves picked
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1-2 tbsp crème fraîche (optional)
• white truffle oil, to serve

For the galettes:

• 80g (3oz) Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 2 slices Serrano ham
• 1 packet pea shoots
• small handful of mint tips (the very tiny new growth buds at the end of the stem) or 6 mint leaves
• viola flowers

Method

1. Put the peas in a bowl, then pour over boiling water and leave to stand for about 5 minutes. Drain.
2. Put the peas (setting aside 1 tsp for the galettes), stock, and thyme leaves in a blender and blend until smooth and combined, in batches if necessary. Add more stock if the soup is too thick. Season well with salt and pepper, and blend again.
3. Make the Parmesan galettes. Heat a heavy-based non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and sprinkle 4 thin layers of Parmesan to make a galette wide enough for your serving cups. When the cheese starts to melt, wait about 2 minutes, until it turns golden and bubbly. Immediately remove from the heat, leave for about 1 minute, then transfer to a wire rack.
4. Finely shred the ham into strips. Scatter each galette with the reserved petit pois, viola petals, pea shoots and mint.
5. To serve, stir the crème fraîche (if using) into the soup, use a hand-held blender to froth up the liquid, pour into serving bowls or cups, and spoon a head of froth over each. Add a few drops of truffle oil to each cup and top with a Parmesan galette balanced on each cup.

Recipe taken from Masterchef: The Classics with a Twist published by DK. Photo credit: David Loftus.