Minted pea soup

Serves 4-6

Apart from eating raw peas straight from the pod - picked from my own garden minutes before - I love pea soup, with that almost unreal intensity of flavour and colour and silky texture. To keep that fresh garden taste you have to make soup properly; keep the cooking time short. And although peas are coming into season, you can get as good a fresh taste from frozen. In fact they'll give you a better result, and in a fraction of the time.

Apart from eating raw peas straight from the pod - picked from my own garden minutes before - I love pea soup, with that almost unreal intensity of flavour and colour and silky texture. To keep that fresh garden taste you have to make soup properly; keep the cooking time short. And although peas are coming into season, you can get as good a fresh taste from frozen. In fact they'll give you a better result, and in a fraction of the time.

1 leek, roughly chopped and washed
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
50g butter
1.5litres vegetable stock
400g frozen peas
A few sprigs of mint
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Gently cook the leek and onion in the butter until soft. Add the vegetable stock, season with salt and pepper and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the peas and mint, bring back to the boil and simmer for 6-7 minutes. Blend the soup in a liquidiser until smooth and strain through a fine meshed sieve. Correct the seasoning if necessary. Serve with a dollop of yogurt or crème fraîche, if you like.