Pea and Mint Soup

Finely dice the onion, finely slice the garlic, and cut the potato into 1 cm cubes. Pick the mint leaves from the stems. Zest and juice the lemon. Fill a large bowl with iced water and set it near the hob.

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8–10 minutes until completely softened and translucent but not coloured.

Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until fragrant and just beginning to turn golden at the edges.

Add the potato cubes and pour in the vegetable stock. Bring to a steady simmer over medium heat and cook for 12 minutes, or until the potato is completely tender when pierced with a knife.

Increase the heat to high and bring the stock to a rolling boil. Add the peas and blanch for exactly 90 seconds, then immediately ladle the peas out with a slotted spoon into the iced water. Reserve the hot stock in the pan.

Drain the chilled peas and add them back into the stock along with the mint leaves, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Do not return to the heat.

Working in batches if necessary, transfer the soup to a blender and blitz on high speed for 2 minutes per batch until completely smooth and vivid green. Add the crème fraîche and blitz for a further 30 seconds.

Pass the soup through a fine-mesh sieve back into a clean saucepan, pressing firmly with a ladle to extract all the liquid. Season with the sea salt and white pepper, tasting as you go.

Reheat gently over a low heat for 3–4 minutes until steaming but not boiling, which would dull the colour. Serve immediately in warmed bowls with a swirl of crème fraîche and a few torn mint leaves.