Pea and ham soup

A hearty, healthy, fresh tasting soup

Soup is just the best lunch, I reckon - I make a huge vat and freeze in portions for almost instant lunches, so a little upfront effort goes a long way. It's a brilliant way to incorporate more veg into your diet. I tend to choose soups that also contain some protein - often in the form of lentils or beans - as I don't find a wholly vegetable soup all that filling.

Although I usually think of soup as a wintry food, perfect for November, this one is actually quite light and fresh, thanks to the bright green peas and the mint - and given how fab frozen peas are, you can happily eat this all year round. It would be an amazing way to use up the leftovers from cooking a big ham (especially if you saved the liquid you cooked the ham in to use as stock) but this time I tried out a packet of ready cooked ham hock from the supermarket and it worked really well. If you prefer a vegetarian soup then obviously leave out the ham and perhaps serve with a little grated (vegetarian) parmesan cheese instead, swapping the mint for basil (and a parmesan rind chucked in with the stock in step 2 would be a nice addition too)

I know it can be hard to find time to do this kind of thing. We're all busy. My best suggestion is to try and fit it in around cooking dinner or maybe straight afterwards while tidying the kitchen?

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 onions, chopped
1 large potato, peeled and chopped
400ml vegetable, chicken or ham stock
300g frozen peas
200ml milk (not skimmed)
100g ham
Mint leaves

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the onion and potato, cover and cook very gently for 10-15mins until soft.
2. Add the stock and simmer until the potato is fully cooked.
3. Add the peas and cook for a few mins more until the peas are tender (but still bright green). 4. Remove from the heat and blend until smooth using a stick blender. Then stir in the ham and the milk and heat through very gently.
5. Season with black pepper (taste before adding salt as the ham is quite salty) and serve garnished with a few shredded mint leaves.