This is a well-liked lunchtime soup, which always gets a good reaction for how surprisingly delicious it is. I think the secret is the addition of some chopped fresh mint added just before you serve which gives it that lovely background fragrance.
If you are looking for a quick and easy soup, made from just simple staple cupboard ingredients, this is the one for you.
Recipe makes 6 good sized portions.
Cooking time 1 hour
Ingredients:
900g bag of frozen peas (just use simple ordinary frozen peas)
1x medium sized carrot chopped
1x medium sized onion chopped
2x sticks of celery chopped
1 tbsp. of cooking oil
2x vegetable stock cubes
2pint of boiling water (from the kettle)
1 clove of garlic crushed
5 flakes only of dried chilli
1 bay leaf
1 level tbsp. of chopped fresh mint (not too much as it will over dominate the taste)
Salt and pepper to season
Heat the oil in a large saucepan, stirring with a spoon add the onion, carrot and celery to sweat and soften.
Add the frozen peas, crumble in the stock cubes, chilli flakes, garlic and a little salt and pepper (you can season again at the end) now add the boiling water from the kettle, enough to cover all the ingredients.
Bring the ingredients to a gentle simmer, cover the saucepan with a lid and cook for an hour, until all the ingredients are soft.
At this point I turn the soup off and perhaps leave for an hour or so to cool and the flavours to fully come out, but you can go to the next stage straight away if you are in a hurry.
Next, fish out the bay leaf and discard (a little overpowering in flavour if you blend this into the soup)
With either a stick blender or in a food blender / processor (caution here if blending boiling hot liquid) liquidise all the ingredients to a smooth creamy consistency. Pour back to the saucepan ready to heat.
You can check the constancy at this point, if too thick you can add a little hot water to let down the soup slightly, although you don’t want to achieve a watery soup, so add a little extra liquid at one time. You can also check the seasoning at this point, by adding a little salt and pepper as desired.
Bring the soup back up to a simmering temperature readiness to serve.
Just 2 minutes before you are ready to dish up, add the chopped mint to the soup and then serve in warmed soup bowls.
Note: By adding the fresh mint just before you serve allows the full flavour of the mint to be present in the soup. If you add the mint too early you will cook away the flavour of the herb.
Serve with some nice warm crusty bread, enjoy!