Chilled Pea & Grapefruit Soup

From Mark Smrecek

This dish is a straight shot of spring flavor. Mark says he was inspired by an Alain Passard dish  that paired white almonds and peas with grapefruit, and a boatload of butter, in The Art of Cooking With Vegetables. From that base, he improvised this elegant cold soup.

Ingredients
7 1/2 pounds green peas
2 1/2 gallons vegetable stock
Juice from 1 lemon
Juice from 5 grapefruits
Salt
Pea/Black Garlic Pistou (below)

Preparation
Puree peas in a food processor in batches, then move them to a blender with a little of the vegetable stock and blend until smooth.

Strain the entire batch of peas, adding back the liquid to the stock mixture and reserving the solids. Add juice of the lemon. Salt to taste. Add juice from 5 grapefruits and thoroughly combine.

Serve chilled, topped with a dollop of pea-black garlic pistou.

Pea/Black Garlic Pistou

Ingredients
550 grams pea solids from above
150 grams blanched almonds
Juice from 1/2 grapefruit
5 sprigs thyme
2 cloves black garlic
1 tablespoon white miso
Olive oil
Salt

Preparation
Combine everything but oil and salt in a food processor and puree until smooth. Add oil to desired texture and salt to taste.

Garlic is a reasonable substitute for black garlic, and I used miso instead of Parmesan to keep dairy out of the mix — but you could use cheese if you like.