Fresh Green Pea Soup

To call this Fresh Pea Soup is a bit of a misnomer as its actually made with frozen peas - but incredibly quick, simple and tasty. There are really only two stipulations to make: use really good quality frozen peas then blitz in a liquidiser for a really smooth result. A food processor will not quite give the same result. Garnish the finished soup with a blob of cremé fraiche and a little chopped mint.

1.  Melt the butter and olive oil together. Gently cook the onion until it is transparent and soft but not browned.  Add the hot stock (if using a stock cube I only use 1/2 as they are usually really salty), bring to the boil and turn off the heat.  Add the peas, mint, lemon juice and vermouth.  Blitz in the liquidiser and adjust the seasoning.
2. The peas which I use are beautifully tender (from Picard)  and simply just defrosted; I have never had to continue to cook them in the hot stock. If , after defrosting, the peas do not appear to be terribly tender, then continue to cook in the hot stock for up to 5 minutes. Be careful, though, not to overcook.