What I absolutely love about this recipe is the fact that most of us have some frozen peas in the freezer and mint in the garden, so you will just about always have the ingredients to make some homemade soup. If you are lucky enough to be basking in sunshine then serve this soup cold with a dash of lemon juice, equally delicious.

You will need

2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
2 medium onions
2 gloves of garlic
Olive oil
2 chicken of vegetable stock cubes
800g (1lb 12 ozs) of frozen peas
A small bunch of fresh mint
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Optional 300g (10ozs) cooked ham

How to make your soup

1. Peel and roughly slice the carrots.
2. Slice the celery.
3. Pell and roughly chop the onions.
4. Peel and slice the garlic.
5. Put a large pan on a medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add all your chopped and sliced ingredients to the pan and mix together with a wooden spoon.
6.cook for about 10 minutes with the lid askew, until the carrots have softened but are still holding their shape, and the onion is lightly golden.
7.Put the stock cubes into a jug and pour in 1.8 litres (3pints) of boiling water from the kettle.
8. Stir until the stock cubes have dissolved and then pour into the vegetables.
9. Add the peas. Give the soup a good stir and bring to the boil. Once boiling allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile pick your mint leaves.
10. When the peas have softened, remove the pan from the heat. Season with salt and pepper and add the mint leaves..
11. Using a hand blender or liquidizer, pulse the soup until smooth.
12. If using ham chop it up and stir it in.

Really lovely served toasted ciabatta drizzled with olive oil or some warm garlic bread. Don’t forget you can freeze this soup in portions ready for all those winter lunches where you need some warmth in your belly.

Originates from Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of food cook book.