Spiced pea soup with cheddar sablés

Method

1. To make the sablés, put all the ingredients apart from the egg in a food processor or large mixing bowl. Add a generous pinch of salt, then whizz or rub the mixture with your fingers until it forms a rough dough. Bring it together with your hands, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and shape it into a disc. Wrap in cling film and chill for 20 minutes (see Make Ahead).
2. Heat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6 and line a large baking sheet with baking paper. Roll out the chilled dough to around 0.5cm thick, then stamp out shapes in it (we used maple and oak leaf cutters; see Know-how), re-rolling as necessary. Put them on the baking tray, brush with the beaten egg and bake for 10-12 minutes until crisp and golden. (You may need to do this in batches.) Remove the sablés from the oven, allow to firm up on the tray for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
3. To make the soup, put the peas and paprika in a medium saucepan with the stock and heat to a bare simmer (the idea is to only just thaw the peas). Blend until very smooth, then pass through a sieve into a mixing bowl. Blend the leftover pulp with a little of the strained liquid, then pass back through the sieve so you don’t waste any good stuff in the pulp. Stir through the lemon juice and cream to taste, then season well and set aside to cool.
4. To serve, reheat and pour the soup into shot glasses, small tumblers or cups and sprinkle with extra paprika. Serve with the sablés.