Green Pea Soup with Curried Brown Butter

Menu:
Green Pea Soup || Super Natural Every Day
Kale Salad
French Bread

I used the Green Lentil Soup recipe from my favorite cookbook, Super Natural Every Day, but used the split peas instead of green lentils. Seriously, buy the book. Everything I've had I've really liked. Next time, I might opt to reduce the amount of red pepper flakes. My husband and I loved it, but it was a bit spicy for the boys.

Green Lentil Soup, adapted from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson
(serves 4 to 6)

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
5 1/2 cups vegetable broth or water (I used 4 cups vegetable broth and 1.5 cups of water)
1 1/2 cups green lentils or green split peas, picked over and rinsed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon Indian curry powder
1/2 cup coconut milk
Fine-grain sea salt
1 bunch fresh chives, minced

Directions:

Combine the 2 tablespoons butter, onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a large soup pot over medium heat, stirring regularly, until the onions soften, a couple minutes. Add the vegetable broth and lentils and simmer, covered, until the lentils are tender. This usually takes 20 to 30 minutes, but can take as long as 50 minutes.

In the meantime, warm the 3 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and let it brown. When it starts to smell nutty and fragrant, stir in the curry powder and sauté until the spices are fragrant, less than a minute.

When the lentils are finished cooking, remove from the heat, stir in the coconut milk and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and puree with an immersion blender. You can leave the soup a bit chunky if you like, or puree until it is perfectly smooth. Stir in half of the spiced butter, taste, and add more salt, if needed, typically a couple of teaspoons if you used water instead of a salted broth. Serve drizzled with the remaining spice butter and sprinkled with chives.