Well the first of my crops are ready to pick. Unsurprisingly, the peas are the first to make an appearance followed by the lettuce. Peas are plucky little fellas that will keep giving and giving and are unbelievably hardy.
I cultivated them from seed in April and planted them outside in May. I also kept a few plants inside too and have been growing them in my conservatory with a plan to coax them into a vine like display over the roof of the conservatory using twine. They are already very tall so I have high hopes.
More importantly, they taste outrageously good and since I started growing them three years ago, shop bought peas are paltry and inferior – I’m a proud pea snob.
So what to do with these delicious green spheres of sweet sweet pleasure. Well, I thought I’d combine them with my freshly picked lettuce, keep it simple and let the ingredients do the work with this Chilled Pea, basil and lettuce summer soup.
Chilled Pea, basil and lettuce summer soup
Serves four
Ingredients
- 300g fresh peas
- 1 large bunch basil, leaves only
- 1 head soft lettuce, core removed and shredded
- 850ml cold vegetable stock
- 200ml pot crème fraîche
Instructions
Cook the peas in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and cool with cold running water. Put the peas, basil, lettuce, vegetable stock and ¾ of the crème fraîche together in a blender and process until smooth. Do this in two batches. Season, cover and chill for at least one hour before serving. Add a swirl of remaining crème fraîche and serve.