It’s January and we’re back on the soup. This year, I got so excited about Christmas I think I peaked too early on the old indulgence front. Mince pies, Christmas cake, sausage rolls, alcohol, and much much more all passed these lips far too much waaaaaay before Christmas actually arrived.
Consequently, after an epic feed on Christmas Day at The Stag at Offchurch, I was pretty much done by Boxing Day. Plus, with a poorly husband dying in bed, posh food wasn’t quite top of the agenda.
And so, we arrived at the ‘soup stage’ slightly earlier than usual. Last year, you may remember I made some soups with all our leftover veg, but this year it was more about rustling something up that was simple and warming for both of us. The fact we were using some of our homecooked ham was a bit of a bonus.
I’d cooked the ham on Christmas night for a snack (I know right, who cooks a WHOLE HAM for a ‘snack’!) and decided on Boxing Day that I was desperate for a bit of pea and ham soup. I looked through a few recipes but decided to just wing it. We all know I’m not that good at this cooking malarkey, so you can be sure that this recipe is easy peasy and doesn’t need much skill at all. In fact – none.
Here we go:
Easy Pea and Ham Soup
Ingredients
- Frozen peas (yes, frozen)
- Vegetable stock
- Fresh mint
- Seasoning
- Cooked ham
- Cream (if you like)
Method
- Make up your vegetable stock, put in a saucepan then add plenty of frozen peas. Simmer for a while in the hope that your pea flavour will make their way into the stock.
- Tear or chop mint leaves and add them to the soup, along with some seasoning.
- Simmer for a while longer then allow to cool.
- Liquidise or blitz until smooth and creamy.
- Chop the ham up into pieces (I used quite substantial chunks).
- Put the ham pieces into a bowl and pour the pea soup over the top. Garnish with a drizzle of cream and a mint leaf.
- Serve with crusty bread and butter.
I have to say, it actually tasted pretty good. The peas went quite sweet and a beautiful colour, while the saltiness of the ham contrasted nicely.
A few days later, we went to the mother-in-laws – her of good cooking – where she fed us one of her soups. She’s a big fan of soups and had knocked up a celery and stilton one for us. A word of warning, Mummy Manning’s soups are not low calorie, but they’re bloody good.
I’m not sure whether she got it from somewhere else or it’s her own recipe but I got her to give me the condensed version (recipe, not soup) so I can share it on here. Again, it seems pretty simple. I reckon even I could do it.
Stilton & Celery Soup
Ingredients
- A bunch of celery, sliced
- 50g butter
- 200g potato, diced
- 570ml veg stock
- 150ml single cream
- 150g stilton, crumbled
- Pepper
Method
- Melt the butter and add the celery, onion and potato. Fry for 10 minutes.
- Add the vegetable stock then add the cream.
- Sprinkle in the crumbles Stilton and season with the pepper.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes.
- Blend and serve.
This is a proper yummy soup. It’s not quite as bright as the pea creation, but don’t be fooled – it’s delicious. Naughty but nice.
And so you have it. A couple of easy soups you can make at home. Needless to say, I still scoffed myself a fair bit after this, and so there’s a serious need for some slightly more healthy fodder. Let’s see if I can’t find some healthy recipes to share with you during January!
