Pea and mint soup

The weather has turned which means it is soup season once again! Ok let’s not kid ourselves, it never really ever stops being “soup season.” 🙂

I definitely go through phases of soup though – for a while it was tortilla soup, then it was spicy pho, and now? Pea and mint soup. Everything about this soup is so English and I just love it. The peas are sweet, the mint earthy and the feelings warm. What is so great about this dish too is just how easy it is to make – there are only a handful of ingredients and they come together so perfectly that you don’t feel like anything is missing. One thing that may be slightly unusual is that I use potato in my soup – this is mainly to thicken it up a bit. You can also make it without potato, but you will have to practically double the amount of peas you use to get the same consistency.

I also like to add a bit of texture or crunch to my soups so I will often add “bacon” to this soup which is a popular combination – something about the sweet and salty coming together in a beautiful symphony. To make the bacon, I usually crumble up a bunch of tofu, add some soy sauce, hot sauce and liquid smoke and either bake or panfry until crispy. I then sprinkle this on top with a squeeze of lemon. Perfect.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium red onion, peeled and diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
• 500g frozen peas
• 1 medium potato (approx 315g), peeled and diced
• 1 handful mint leaves (about 8g), roughly chopped
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• Juice from half a lemon

Directions:

1. Cook the onion in a saucepan over a medium heat in a tablespoon or two of the vegetable stock and cook until the onion turns translucent (around 5-6 minutes).
2. Add the garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes, adding more stock if the pan starts to dry out.
3. Add the potato and stock. Cover the saucepan with a lid and cook on a medium boil for 10-15 minutes until the potato is cooked through.
4. Add the peas and mint and simmer for another 5 minutes with the lid on.
5. Remove the soup from the heat and puree, add lemon and season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Enjoy!