Recipe: Lettuce and Pea Soup

It may seem strange to cook lettuce and make soup out of it, but chilled soups for hot weather tend to follow different rules than the heavy soups of winter. Here wilted lettuce with sweet shelled peas makes for a light and fresh-tasting lunch on a sweltering July day. If you've grown a bit tired of salads through the leafy spring this cold soup is a refreshing change as we await the meatier (so to speak) veggies of mid-summer.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 head of lettuce, chopped
- 1/2 pint of peas, shelled
- 4 garlic scapes, chopped coarsely
- 1 tbsp. butter
- 1 cup vegetable or chicken stock
- 1 cup milk
- salt to taste
- a handful of parsley, chopped
- (optional) a handful of mint, chopped

Steps:

1) Heat pan on medium-low and melt butter. Add garlic scapes and lettuce and sauté until leaves are wilted, about 1-2 minutes.

2) Add stock and simmer on low for 5 minutes.

3) Add peas, parsley and mint and stir for 1 minute.

4) Remove from heat, add milk and puree. Taste and add salt as needed.

5) Chill and serve cold with a dollop of yogurt and mint garnish. Makes 2 large or 4 small bowls of soup.