Pea and Lardo Soup
Pea and lardo soup is a silky green starter made with frozen peas, melted lardo, double cream and a topping of quark and pumpkin seed oil. The Thermomix TM7 blends the peas into a velvety texture in seconds and gently heats the soup without burning, while homemade vegetable stock paste adds depth. Finished with toasted pumpkin seeds for crunch.
About this recipe
Pea and lardo soup Thermomix TM7 recipes bring a fine-dining starter to your own kitchen in under half an hour. This vibrant green soup recipe leans on frozen peas, which the all-in-one kitchen machine blitzes into an impressively velvety purée in seconds — no sieve required. Thin ribbons of lardo melt into the hot liquid, lending a gentle cured-pork richness that balances the peas' natural sweetness, while double cream rounds everything off. A spoonful of quark and a drizzle of pumpkin seed oil on top add a fresh, slightly tangy Austrian-style finish, with toasted pumpkin seeds for crunch. It works beautifully as a quick weeknight dinner starter or as the opening course of a festive menu, and the TM7 handles the grinding, heating and blending in a single bowl, meaning minimal washing up afterwards.
Preparation tips
- Reserve a handful of frozen peas and add them after blending so the soup keeps a fresh bite and a brighter colour; the contrast between whole peas and silky purée makes each spoonful more interesting.
- Toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry pan until they pop before topping the soup; this releases their nutty oils and gives a far crunchier finish against the creamy quark dollop.
- If you cannot find lardo, use a good quality thinly sliced pancetta or, for a meat-free version, simply omit it and add a little extra butter for richness.
- Keep the quark at room temperature before spooning it into the hot soup, otherwise it may look split; stirring a teaspoon of pumpkin seed oil into the quark makes a prettier marbled finish.
Recipe variations
- Vegetarian version: leave out the lardo entirely and sauté a diced shallot in the butter instead; finish with smoked salt to recreate that gentle smky depth without any cured meat.
- Spring variation: replace half the frozen peas with blanched spring peas or spinach and top with fresh mint oil instead of pumpkin seed oil for a lighter, seasonal character.
Thermomix TM7 Benefits
- Directly weighing the frozen peas and water into the bowl saves juggling separate scales and ensures consistent soup thickness every time.
- Quick heating gently melts the lardo and butter into the soup base without any risk of scorching the delicate green peas.
- The grinding function turns the pumpkin seeds into a coarse crumb for garnish, releasing their nutty oils for extra aroma.
- Blending the cooked peas with double cream produces an ultra-silky soup texture in seconds, with no need for a separate blender or sieve.
- Steaming keeps a handful of peas vibrant and tender in the Varoma while the soup cooks below, preserving their bright colour and bite.
Ingredients
- pumpkin seeds
- lardo
- frozen peas
- unsalted butter
- double cream
- water
- vegetable stock paste, homemade
- quark (curd cheese)
- lardo
- pumpkin seed oil