This soup ticks all the ‘cheap, fresh and easy’ boxes. It’s also incredibly quick and can be made in less than 10 minutes. I always have a bag of frozen peas in the freezer and a mass of mint growing in a pot in the garden – so I have everything I need to rustle up lunch at no notice. The rich green of the soup is a welcome sight in the cold weather and the recipe is very healthy – nourishing and low in fat.

Sometimes I make a version of this using up ageing lettuce from the fridge  – a kind of liquidised petit pois à la Francais.

I haven’t given exact ingredients here, instead there are rough quantities per person. Use stock if you want but I have just used boiling water.

The pea soup is easy and delicious but the star of the show is the Parmesan crisp – very straightforward to make and elevates the soup to something a bit special. I’m going to try and shape the parmesan crisp next time – into rolls or cup shapes. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• Frozen peas, about double the portion you would normally use for a main course, per person
• 2 spring onions per person, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh mint per person
• Stock or boiling water (enough to cover the peas)
• Knob butter or olive oil for frying the onions
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan per person

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220C
2. Heat the butter or olive oil and cook the spring onions gently for 4-5 minutes. Add the peas and stir well.
3. Add the hot stock or boiling water – enough to just cover the pea mixture. Season well with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer for five minutes.
4. Grease an oven tray and sprinkle the grated parmesan into disc shapes and press down gently. Bake for 4-5 minutes until golden (but be careful not to burn). Remove from the oven and carefully remove for the tray. Leave to cool and harden.
5. Liquidise the soup and keep warm until the Parmesan crisp is hard, then serve.