This recipe was made at the special request of a lovely lady called Ruth who requested a recipe for a pea and ham soup a few weeks ago. Well ask and you shall receive, here it is Ruth!!

This recipe calls for 200g cooked gammon/ham. You can either buy this pre cooked or you can cook a joint yourself. I bought a huge joint for around £4, boiled it and then once shredded, froze the rest in portions to use in other meals. Cooking it myself also meant that I had the boiling water (aka homemade stock) which was lovely. A ham stock cube would be just as good though.

The end result was truly delicious. The addition of a little parsley and mint gives it a lovely extra flavour however you can miss these out if you like it a little plainer.

Ingredients

Serves 6 = 3sp each (Flex)

1 large onion, finely sliced

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

250g potatoes, raw, peeled and roughly diced

1 ham stock cube made with 1 litre boiling water

350g frozen peas

200g cooked gammon/ham, shredded

Handful of fresh parsley and mint, roughly chopped

2 tbsp half fat creme fraiche

Black pepper to taste

Method

Take a large saucepan, add the onions, spray with 1kal and saute on a medium heat until softened (but not brown). You might need to add a little water to the pan to stop the onions catching.

After around 5 minutes add the garlic and potato, fry for another minute and then add the stock.

Simmer until the potato is nice and soft (around 15 minutes) and then add the peas. Simmer for another 2 minutes and then remove from the heat.

Add the parsley and mint to taste (add a little a first), blend and continue to taste/add until you get the herb blend to your required flavour. Add a good twist of black pepper and 2 tbsp creme fraiche and blend again.

Finally add the shredded meat and stir.

Serve in a bowl, topping with a little of reserved shredded ham and a small dollop of creme fraiche.

Enjoy!