Pea & ham soup

• 2Gammon steaks
• 1Brown onion
• 2 sticksCelery
• 250gPotatoes
• 20gButter
• 1 cubeChicken stock cube, in 1 litre water
• 600gFrozen peas

Plus salt, pepper and water.

Method

1. 1

   Trim the fat off the gammon and cut the meat into 1cm dice. Chop the onion and celery, and peel and dice the potato.

2. 2

   Melt the butter in a large pan and fry the gammon for 5 to 6 minutes, until golden at the edges and cooked through. Spoon about a third of it onto a plate to stir back in at the end.

3. 3

   Add the onion and celery to the pan and cook for 8 minutes, until soft.

4. 4

   Add the potato and the stock cube crumbled into 1 litre boiling water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes, until the potato is tender.

   17 min, mostly hands-off

5. 5

   Tip in the peas, bring back to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes, until bright green and tender.

6. 6

   Blitz with a stick blender until smooth, then stir in the gammon from the plate. Taste before you add any salt, as the gammon and stock bring plenty, and add lots of pepper.

7. 7

   Leave to cool, then ladle into tubs for the fridge or freezer.