A TOUCH OF HISTORY:

It is legend the Mongol™ Pencil was named after ‘Purée Mongole™,’ the favorite soup of pencil baron John Eberhard Faber.

Purée Mongole, also called Cream Mongole, is a creamed split pea-tomato soup of unknown origin; a recipe for it was printed in 1889.

Purée Mongole is usually made with carrots, onions, white turnips, leeks, a stock (either beef or chicken) and milk. Depending on the recipe, it can have julienne carrots and be seasoned with curry powder, ground cloves, turmeric, nutmeg, cumin, and basil, in addition to salt and pepper.

Ingredients

Yield: Six servings

  • 4 to 5 large red, ripe tomatoes, about 4 cups, or canned Italian plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and juice reserved

  • 2cups fresh or frozen green peas, thawed

  • 2cups chicken broth, homemade or canned

  • Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

  • 1cup heavy cream

  • ⅓cup fresh chervil sprigs

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place the tomato pulp in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse on and off and puree until smooth. Place the pureed tomatoes and the reserved juice in a medium nonreactive pan and set aside.

  2. Step 2

    In a saucepan of lightly salted, boiling water, cook the peas until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. Puree the peas in the food processor and fold into the tomato puree. (If using frozen peas, puree in the food processor without precooking.)

  3. Step 3

    Add the stock and seasonings to the puree mixture and place the pan over high heat and bring to a boil. Add the cream and bring to a boil again. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Evenly divide the soup into six heated soup plates and top with the chervil sprigs. Serve immediately.