Pea Shoots & Chicken Soup

• On my last visit to Gdańsk I noticed that many dishes were garnished with pea shoots.
• Very near to where I live, in West Yorkshire, there are greenhouses that produce varieties of cress and salad mixes.
• One of these is a mix that contains pea shoots.
• I recieved several of these packets recently.
• Besides using them as salads I decided to use them in a soup.
• The recipe is based on a couple I have posted before for Early Summer Soup and Green Early Summer Soup.
• This soup has a base similar to rosȯł (clear chicken soup) with the shoots added near the end of cooking time.
• I used two chicken breasts but if you use chicken pieces still with their skin on them that will be good as well.

Royal Doulton – Burgundy Soup Plate

INGREDIENTS

• 2 whole chicken breasts (can use chicken pieces with the skin on)
• 1 large onion – chopped
• Around 70g pea shoots or pea shoot mixture
• 1½ litres of vegetable stock – can be from a cube or powder
• 4 -5 peppercorns
• Salt – if needed – to taste

METHOD

• Put the chopped onion, peppercorns and chicken breasts into the stock in a saucepan.
• Bring to the boil and then simmer for around 15 minutes.
• Remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat (you can chop the flesh into smaller pieces if you wish).
• Put the flesh back into the liquid.
• Chop the pea shoots into smaller pieces.
• Add this to the stock and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Season to taste and serve.