Hungarian green Pea soup and Canadian Potato salad

For dinner tonight I decided to make the Hungarian Green Pea Soup and pair it with Canadian Potato salad (made with red potatoes and sweet pickles). We picked fresh shelling peas upstate last Friday, there is such a nice difference between fresh week old peas and the ones you get from the store/frozen. But the soup can be made with frozen peas as well as fresh. The kids really enjoyed shelling the peas, which is something I remember doing with my grandmother when I was young.
Then as the soup was cooking the girls made the egg dumplings (galuska) for the soup. Simple, easy and delicious :). I like to get my kids involved in cooking special things. They like helping and it creates a nice tradition for them to follow, helping mom in the kitchen. I have noticed that they are more likely to eat food that they have helped to make. My middle child is not crazy about peas but she ate most of the peas in her bowl. (I added cut up carrots to this soup to give it some extra color and taste. I just added them at the same time as the peas. ) I also ended up adding extra water, about 4 cups, while it was cooking so as to make it enough for 5 people.

I got the recipe from recipes.vonmetz.com/recipes.html

Zöldborsó Leves (Green Pea Soup)

This delicious soup has a Springy, refreshing taste that no other vegetable soup will offer. When I was a little girl, my Mother never missed a chance during the late spring and early summer months of sending me out to our vegetable garden to pick the green pods from the vine. Shelling the peas together in the sun-lit kitchen, or sitting closely with bowls in our laps on the steps by our backdoor, always made me feel very secure and content.

Unfortunately, my own children missed all this, because I had to use frozen ready-shelled peas, or had to shell the store-bought fresh pods alone for our zöldborsó leves.

Ingredients

• 1 pound shelled peas, fresh or frozen
• 2 tablespoons butter
• ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon Wondra flour
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 clove garlic, cleaned and minced
• 1 egg
• ½ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• Salt
• Water

Shell and wash the peas if not using the frozen kind.

Heat up the butter in a medium soup pot and add in the garlic and parsley. Turn the heat down and simmer for 2 minutes. Add in the peas and sprinkle on the one tablespoon flour. Stir well until they are coated with the roux. Poor in the milk and two cups of water; add the sugar and salt to taste. Bring up to boil and cook uncovered on medium heat for 10 minutes. The peas should be almost done; add more water if necessary.

While the peas are cooking prepare the dumplings.

In a small bowl slightly beat up the egg with a fork; gradually add in the flour and a pinch of salt. Mix well until it forms a soft and smooth dough. With a teaspoon and the help of a dinner knife drop small and even dumplings into the boiling soup. You can also force the dough through a Spatzle machine (galuska maker) directly into the soup.

Cook on medium heat for few more minutes, until the dumplings come up to the surface.

Serve it immediately.