Pea and pesto soup

Serves 2

Soup making is like bread making in a sense - cleansing, pure and theraputic. There is nothing simpler, and no secret in using the fridge's darkest secrets to boil and blend together to produce a warming bowl of something, but making a soup on purpose with intended ingredients is one of the kitchen's best quick fix moments. I do believe that any soup will taste better made in a blender rather than a food processor, and it’s best to use a blender which has a central plug in the lid that you can remove to stop pressure building up. The only fat I've added is a little butter at the end just to smoothen off the soup, you could do a splash of cream too, but it really isn't crucial to this.

750ml water
375g frozen peas
2 spring onions, trimmed but left whole
1 tsp Maldon salt or ½ tsp table salt
½ tsp lime juice
4 tblsp fresh pesto (if not fresh, then from a tub, but not a jar)

75g soft butter

Bring the water to a rolling boil, add the frozen peas, spring onions, salt and lime juice to the pan and let everything bubble together for 7 minutes.

Discard the spring onions and blitz the peas and their liquid with the pesto in a blender.

If you're feeling swanky, force the soup through a fine sieve. Whisk in the butter and serve without delay.