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Heston's Pea and ham soup Zoomer icon

Heston's Pea and ham soup

Heston's Pea and ham soup

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Heston's Pea and ham soup

''The great thing about this soup is its vibrant colour in the dead of winter when fresh green vegetables are hard to find. The peas are frozen within hours of being picked, retaining all their sweetness and flavour so we can enjoy them throughout the year. The shredded ham hock adds a satisfying depth and texture that is perfect for shortwinter days.'' Heston

Preparation time:
15 minutes plus defrosting
Cooking time:
10 minutes
Total time:
25 minutes plus defrosting 25 minutes
Serves:
 4

Ingredients

  • 907g bag frozen essential Waitrose Garden Peas
  • 20g mint leaves
  • 50ml grapeseed or groundnut oil
  • 65g unsalted butter
  • 75g sliced shallots
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
  • 160g unsmoked streaky bacon, cut into strips
  • 750ml vegetable stock
  • 180g pack Cooks’ Ingredients Pulled Ham Hock

Method

Spread the peas out on a baking tray lined with kitchen paper and allow to defrost completely.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and drop in the mint leaves for15–20 seconds. Remove the mint and submerge immediately in a bowl of iced water. Remove the mint and dry the leaves with kitchen paper. Put the mint and oil in a liquidiser and blitz for 10–15 seconds. Strain the oil through a sieve and reserve for finishing the soup.

Melt 25g of butter in a saucepan and add the shallots, garlicand bacon. Cook for 5 minutes over a medium heat until softbut not coloured.

Add the stock and simmer for 5 minutes. Add all but 75g of the peas and the remaining butter and remove from the heat immediately. Liquidise this mixture thoroughly, in batches if necessary.

Strain through a fine sieve, pressing through as many solids as possible and pour into a clean pan. Season to taste, then gently rewarm the soup.

With a hand-held blender, blitz the soup until foamy, then add the ham hock and remaining peas.

Carefully ladle the soup into 4 bowls and drizzle each bowl with the reserved mint oil.

Copyright © Heston Blumenthal 2011

Comments and images

Average user rating 2 stars out of 5

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Charlotte2

Charlotte2 30 January 2011 16:08

Delicious but took a very long time to push the pureed soup through the sieve making the total preparation time much much longer then 15 minutes

bhive01

bhive01 30 January 2011 13:57

Didn't manage to follow the directions, but the soup turned out really well. Blending sieving, blending seemed like overkill so we blended and got lumpy soup. A bit more "rustic" I suppose. Accidentally bought petit pois instead of larger peas. Don't make this mistake since there are more pea skins per kg that make the soup more lumpy when you don't sieve. Tastes great though. Nice and hearty. Will make again. :)

eveuk

eveuk 30 January 2011 12:30

Thought this was fabulous. An unusual way of serving a normally boring soup, very creamy and flavoursome.

cuisimange

cuisimange 28 January 2011 15:58

In my opinion, pea and ham soup is much better if it's made in the traditional way with split peas and ham on the bone - and definitely not with mint! This recipe is quicker, of course, and some people might prefer it.

Mike Minihan

Mike Minihan 27 January 2011 17:13

enjoyable but too minty will make again with less mint

Angel

Angel 27 January 2011 13:12

Great and easy recipe. If you are watching fat content of food, can use a little less butter in cooking and instead of the mint oil use a mint yogurt.

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2 stars out of 5

Average user rating Based on 857 ratings

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Nutritional Info

Typical values per serving:
Energy 579.0kcal
Sugars 6.9g
Fat 40.2g
Saturated Fat 14.9g
Salt 4.0g

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This recipe was first published on Waitrose.com in January 2011