Food with Passion: Pea & Smoked Bacon Lardons
John Paul Kennedy is a self-taught cook and an avid fan of collecting cookery books with a passion for good old-fashioned home cooking.
His passion for proper family cooking stems from his TWO Grandmothers, who were both excellent cooks, one of whom was a trained chef.
JP promises to bring us plenty of family-inspired recipes and tasty treats while showing us how to get the basics right.
I adore garden peas and I fell in love with this soup when I first tasted it when I was on a day cookery course a number of years ago and it was served to us for lunch.
Soup, especially at this time of year is one of my favourite weekday lunches and this recipe is quick, easy and nutritious.
Once you get into making homemade soup you quickly realise how easy it is and how much better tasting and fresh it is than any packet or container soups.
Some might be thrown by the bright green colour but if you like peas you will love this soup.
Delicious with some crispy bacon lardons served on top or if you prefer you can leave out the bacon for a vegetarian option instead. The cream is also optional if you are trying to be heatlhier!
Ingredients: Serves 3-4
- 50g butter
- I onion coarsely chopped
- 1 potato, peeled and diced
- 100g smoked bacon lardons
- 800ml of hot chicken stock or veg if you prefer!
- 450g frozen garden peas
- 100ml double cream (optional if you are trying to be heatlhier)
- 2 tablespoons for freshly chopped mint
- Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Method:
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan then add the onion and potato and fry over a medium heat for about 8-10 minutes, stirring often as you only want them softened but not browned.
- Pour in the stock and bring to a boil over a high heat, leave to simmer for 5 minutes then stir in the peas.
- Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes – you don’t want to overcook the peas otherwise they will lose their bright green colour.
- While the peas are cooking in a separate pan cook off the bacon lardons until crisp and brown and set aside on some kitchen paper to soak up any excess oil.
- Season the soup and using a blender or food processor, puree the soup and then return to the saucepan. Then stir in the cream (optional) and fresh mint.
- Season with salt and ground black pepper if more seasoning is needed and pour into bowls and adorn each one with some of the crispy bacon and serve with crusty bread and enjoy.
- You can add a dollop of crème fraiche or even some freshly chopped mint at the end – Delicious comfort food heaven in a bowl – My kind of cooking.
Whenever I make soups I will often whip up some of my healthy loaf bread or Irish Soda bread with fresh herbs as I believe the two go hand in hand and you need some bread to dunk into your bowl of warm and comforting joy.
If you would like either of these really tasty and again good for your bread recipes; just get in touch and I would be happy to share them with you.
As I write this recipe I am inspired to do some batch cooking for weekday lunches and soups are just perfect for that.
If like me and many others out there; you are working from home this is a really good staple and nutritious recipe that will see you through to clocking off and dinner time.
Perfect at this time of year as we get back into our routines and hit the reset button!
