We planned this week’s meals over breakfast at Plum Market this morning, flipping through cookbooks and magazines spread around our coffee cups and pastry plates. I like this part of the weekend – anticipating what we’ll feel like eating for the week ahead, picking out the more intensive recipes for a special weekend meal.

For dinner tonight, Ina Garten’s Fresh Pea Soup, made from The Barefoot Contessa at Home, a Christmas gift a few years ago from my Mom (who really wanted the book herself).  We’ve made a very similar recipe from Jamie Oliver several times, but I think this is the winner – a soup that just bowls you over with its, well, greenness.  I liked how even after pureeing, the soup had some heft to it, something to spoon onto soft French bread, each bite releasing a bit of mint or chive.  Jamie Oliver’s recipe is accompanied by garlicky prosciutto croutons, which would’ve been a lovely addition – but with warm bread and a bit of salt, tonight’s soup was just perfect without.

Recipe:
Fresh Pea Soup from The Barefoot Contessa at Home