Pea and Mint Soup

1 tablespoon butter or oil

1 bunch of spring onions or 1 medium onion trimmed and roughly chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

850ml vegetable stock

900g young peas in the pod( to give about 3=250g/90z shelled peas)

4 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

large pinch of caster sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Double cream to taste

• Put the spring onions/ onion into a large pan with the garlic and soften in the oil and butter. Add stock, bring to the boil and turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the onion is very soft. For the garnish, blanch 3 tablespoons of the shelled peas in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, drain, put in a bowl of cold water and set aside. Add the remaining peas to the soup base and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Stir in the mint, sugar and lime juice, cool slightly then pour into a food processor or liquidiser and whizz until it reaches the desired smoothness. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
• To serve the soup cold, cool quickly, then chill,  you may need to add more stock to the soup before serving as it will thicken as it cools. To serve hot, return the soup to the rinsed out pan and reheat without boiling.

Serve the soup in bowls, garnished with cream and the drained peas.

By adding the cream as a garnish you can reheat the soup without fear of it curdling and can freeze any excess.