Mega Quick Pea & Ham Soup

This soup is a super quick, super easy one, to pull together. I usually only tend to make it when we have a joint of ham which we have poached, therefore creating a vat of ham stock that it would be a travesty to waste. We always have a ham at Christmas, and so its usually a staple leftover meal for us at this time of year! If you haven’t got the stock from a recently cooked ham or gammon, then you can use pork stock if you can find it in the supermarket, but I don’t feel it tastes quite as good. Serves 4 Ingredients:

• 1 liter ham stock
• 500g peas – fresh or frozen
• 1 onion – finely chopped
• 4-5 mint leaves – chopped
• 20g butter
• handful fresh/defrosted frozen peas (for garnish)
• handful of sliced ham – either from the joint you’ve cooked and leftover, or good quality packeted (for garnish)
• salt and black pepper to season
• dash of cream/creme fraiche (for garnish)

Method: 1. Heat a large heavy based pan, then add the butter. When melted add in the onion and sweat lightly for 2-3 minutes, be careful not to let it color. 2. Add the peas, cook for another 30 seconds then add the stock 3. Bring to the boil, then turn off the heat. 4. Blend until smooth, adding the fresh mint at this stage, along with salt and pepper to taste then pass through a sieve 5. Return to a new pan and bring up to temperature, then serve, adding the ham fresh peas and cream to garnish. Happy eating :)