Sluttishly Savoury: Pea Shooters

Garden peas are in season and they are one of my favourite summer treats, sadly they are also a favourite of the hordes of slugs who have completely destroyed any pea shoot that managed to make it through the soil. My fella told me he looks forward to the day I return from the veg patch and my first words aren't "bastard slugs!"

There are lots of bags of peas in their pods in the shops right now and as soothing as sitting in the garden with a glass of wine whilst podding peas is, I always feel a bit disappointed at the measly amount of peas I get from a big bag of pods. The pods are packed full of lovely pea flavour and so this recipe was created to get the most from your lovely bag of pods. I also added some frozen peas which I always have in my freezer just to boost it as the peas from my pods were tiny.

I really like this as a cold shooter, it's so cooling and refreshing with the fresh mint running through the summer pea flavour, and it can be made well in advance so it's perfect for a summer BBQ (and looks quite impressive!). My fella is not convinced by the idea of cold soup however and prefers it hot in a big bowl but it works beautifully either way.

You'll need:

• 1 bag of peas in their pods, mine weighed about 250g
• 400ml semi skimmed milk
• 200ml water
• 1 heaped teaspoon powdered chicken stock, or veg if you prefer
• knob of butter
• 2 chopped shallots or 1 small white onion
• 150g frozen peas (about 2 mugs full)
• a handful of chopped fresh mint
• salt and pepper

Make it!

1. Wash your pea pods and remove any nice big peas and set to one side, I like to save a few pea shoots for decoration later.
2. Grab a saucepan and gently sweat off the shallot until soft then add the milk, water, stock and your empty pods. Heat until just boiling then remove from the heat and leave to infuse for about 15 minutes. 
3. Using a hand blender (or processor if you have one) blitz the mixture up a bit then strain through a sieve into a clean saucepan. Check the taste and season with salt and pepper. Add your frozen peas (and any fresh that you had set aside) and heat just until the peas are cooked then add your mint.
4. Blitz again using your blender then strain one last time. If having the soup hot you really don't need to strain again if you like a thicker soup but for the cold soup to be really silky it needs to be done.
5. Pop your pea soup in the fridge to chill then serve in tall shot glasses and top with a pea shoot.