Recipe: Pea Soup

Pea soup

A simple but quick and tasty recipe that was prepared by the older children during our meeting. As with most soup recipes quantities of ingredients do not need to be exact, just chuck in what you've got and hopefully it should taste good.

1 onion
500g frozen peas (generally half a bag)
1 pint of stock - we usually use Knorr chicken stock cubes
1 tablespoon of oil
2 tablespoons of cream
salt and pepper to taste

1. Slice the onions.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions and cook for a couple of minutes until they are softened. Try not to let them brown.
3. Add the frozen peas and the pint of stock. Bring this to the boil then reduce the heat to simmer for 10 minutes.
4. When cooked, liquidise the soup using a hand blender - be careful not to splash as the soup will be very hot! It may be worth letting the soup cool first before liquidising then gently re-heat. 
5. Stir in the cream. 
6. Add seasoning (salt and pepper) to taste.

Additional notes
Experiment with different stocks, if you are adding additional ingredients you may prefer to just stick to water in which case you will probably need to add more seasoning. If you want a thicker soup use less liquid.
Cream is not essential but does add a nice richness to the dish, just don't add too much or it will overpower the peas. You could try substituting the cream for a small spoon of cream cheese such as Philadelphia or even use creme fraiche.
Talking of substitutions you could skip the tablespoon of oil and start off by lightly frying 2-3 rashers of chopped streaky bacon which should provide all the oil you will need for cooking your onions whilst adding a more meaty flavour to your soup.
Other additions to experiment with are adding fresh mint leaves, watercress or even spinach for a rich green colour. A potato will help turn it into a more filling, robust meal. Other options include adding garlic and/or celery with the onions.

I personally love this dish in it's simplest form served with lots of added white pepper and crusty bread. It's a great meal for summer and quick to prepare. Experiment and see what you can do!