Easy Caesar Salad Soup Recipe with Pancetta & Peas

Recipe: Caesar Salad Soup Recipe »

When I was sent a review copy of Delicious Food Editor Valli Little's new book Quick Smart Cook I flicked through it eagerly and my gaze fell upon one dish in particular. You know I love quirky and putting a twist on anything and this dish put a twist on one of my favourite dishes, the Caesar Salad. It was a Caesar Salad Soup. Like a lot of Modern Australian cuisine Quick Smart Cook borrows spices and flavours from different cultures.

Back to the Caesar Salad soup, because I know you'll be rather fascinated by it. It was easy to make indeed and I do happen to love anchovies in moderation so I was sure to add some. For those of you familiar with Chinese cuisine, cooked lettuce is no big deal at all and is in fact rather good but the idea of cooking an ingreident that is usually eaten raw can be mystifying to others. It's a moot point really, the lettuce flavour was relatively mild in it and the soup resembled more of a delicious pea and ham soup with some sour cream. I found that I enjoyed it with more sour cream (although that's no surprise is it as I love sour cream).

Caesar Salad Soup

Serves 4-6

• 6 pancetta slices (I used bacon)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 onion, chopped

• 1 garlic clove, chopped

• 1-2 anchovy fillets, chopped (optional)

• 1 potato (about 200g), peeled, chopped

• 3 cups (750ml) chicken stock

• 200g frozen peas

• 1 cos lettuce, outer leaves discarded, thinly shredded

• 1/4 cup (20g) grated parmesan, plus extra to serve

• 2 tablespoons sour light cream

• Toasted Sourdough croutons, to serve

Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 200C. Lay 4 slices of pancetta on a baking tray, then cover with a sheet of baking paper and top with another tray to keep it flat. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes until crisp, then break into shards and set aside for serving.

Step 2 - Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Chop the remaining pancetta and add to the pan with the onion, garlic and anchovy and cook for 2-3 minutes until onion has softened. Add the potato and stock and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes until potato has softened.

Step 3 - Add the peas and lettuce and simmer for 2 minutes until the lettuce has wilted. Remove from the heat and cool slightly. Stir in the parmesan and season, then use a stick blender to puree the soup until smooth (or cool slightly, then puree in batches in a blender and return to the pan). Warm through over low heat or serve chilled. Divide among bowls, drizzle with sour cream, then serve with crisp pancetta shards, croutons and extra parmesan.