Pea soup with bacon

Orange flavoured butternut Soup

Preparation time: 5 minutes Cooking time: 30 minutes Serves: 8

Ingredients

  • 6 cups of peas, fresh or frozen
  • ½ cup water
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • ½ cup cream (optional)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • freshly ground pepper to taste
  • 6 rashers of streaky beacon (optional)

Method

  1. Heat butter and oil in a medium pot until butter melts
  2. Add onion and celery; cook stirring occasionally, until softened.
  3. Add garlic and thyme (or parsley),cook stirring until fragrant for about 10 seconds)
  4. Stir in peas, add water and broth, bring to simmer over high heat
  5. Reduce heat to maintain a lively simmer and cook until very tender for about a minute
  6. Purée the soup in batches in a blender until smooth
  7. Stir in cream salt and pepper and purée further