Pea and ham soup recipe
by RSPCA | 
8 comments | 
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At Lovefood we are supporting the RSPCA Christmas campaign to encourage shoppers to ‘Think Pig’ and choose higher welfare meat. Freedom Food, the RSPCA's farm assurance and food labelling scheme has created some new delicious pork and ham recipes to help cooks get the most value out of the meat.
At a glance
- Cuisine British
- Recipe Type Starter
- Difficulty Easy
- Preparation time 15 mins
- Cooking time 15 mins
- Serves 2 people
Ingredients
- 50 g (1.8oz) Butter
- 1 Small onion, chopped
- 1 Leek, chopped
- 225 g (7.9oz) Cooked, higher welfare Freedom Food ham or gammon
- 455 g (16oz) frozen peas
- 750 ml (26.4fl oz) Chicken or vegetable stock
- 4 tbsp Double cream or natural fromage frais
- 2 tbsp Parsley
- 1 Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Bay leaves
Step-by-step
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan and gently cook the onion, bay leaves, leek and ham or gammon for 5 minutes until softened but not coloured.
- Add the peas , stirring constantly for 1 minute. Pour in most of the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool for 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves.
- Transfer to a blender or food processor and process for a few seconds until smooth. Return to the saucepan and begin to heat gently. Add the remaining stock until you get the desired consistency.
- Check the seasoning and season as required. Cook for a further minute or until piping hot but not boiling.
- Serve with a dollop of double cream or fromage frais, or a sprinkling of fresh herbs such as flat leaf parsley. You could also accompany it with plenty of crusty bread or some steamed greens, such as mange tout.
Tips:
If you boiled your ham or gammon use the water as half the stock. However, check that the water, is not too salty.
If you have any leftover bread from Christmas that is beginning to go a little stale, cut it into cubes and toss gently in olive oil. Bake or grill until lightly toasted and serve as croutons.
Don't forget to Think Pig and find out more about the labels you should be looking for to help improve pig welfare.
More great recipes
The Hairy Bikers' roast belly of pork recipe
Comments
by jade83 | on 30 December 2011
Why are you supporting the RSPCA? They have a terrible reputation for lack of interest in cases that don't 'suit' them and are one of the worst 'charities' you could have chosen to support. I would never call them for any animal welfare related issue. Please look into these things more closely before supporting such awful charities.
by Palefire | on 25 July 2012
My pea and ham soup goes like this:
Sunday Roast Chicken carcass and any dinner leftovers (never many in our house)
Water
1 packet of soaked peas
1 thick slice of gammon
Take the bones and leftover gravy/veg/potatoes/stuffing (if there are any) and put them in a large pan. Cover with water and put on a fast simmer for an hour.
Strain through a fine sieve or muslin and reserve the liquid.
Place liquid and rinsed soaked peas into a pan and cook until peas are almost at the desired texture (stir fairly often) you may need to add a little water. Add chopped up gammon and cook for further ten minutes. No need to season - the stock and gammon do it for you.
Serve with crusty roll
Sunday dinner left overs: £0
Peas £0.36
Gammon £2.50
Crusty rolls £0.60
Feeds: 4
Bargain!
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