Chunky Pea and Ham Soup

I’m not even going to try that ‘fresh peas are best’ tack, because fresh peas are very hard to find and, when you do get ‘em, flaccid and airfreighted to death, I often think that frozen are better living out here. This is a second pea recipe in the same batch, I know. But it's a very different soup indeed that totally lacks the finesse of the Keller-like Green Pea Soup but makes up for it in rough, hunk of bread and bowl of soup winter appeal.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 spring onions, finely chopped
• 1 small stick celery, finely chopped
• 750ml vegetable stock
• 200g smoked ham, diced
• 450g frozen peas
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ tsp salt

In a roomy pan, heat the olive oil and then soften the onions, spring onions and celery. Add the stock, the ham and the bay leaf and then, when it’s all heated up nicely, add the ham and salt. Let it simmer for 30 mins, then allow it to cool for a while. Remove half the soup to a liquidiser and give it a whiz before returning to the mixture in the pan, mixing it in and reheating to serve.