Green Pea Soup with Crispy Bacon

At the risk of sounding a monotonous drone of familiarity: here we are again, its getting late, tired child, late working partner and me. Not so much parental guilt today, as managed to pick little Miss 3 up from Preschool at a more acceptable 4pm, rather than a meltdown inducing 5. Whats for tea Mummy? That's a good question my little blossom. Something in a hurry.

Little Miss 3 just loves peas. This might sound a little abnormal for a three year old but she will happily eat them at any stage of the day. This fact led to a late afternoon brainwave - Green Pea Soup with Crispy Bacon.

To make this cheerful Pea Soup:

Finely chop an onion and gently fry it in a little oil.
Don't let it brown.

Add the peas. I used frozen, but fresh would work just as well.

Its way too late in the day to measure anything. I threw in about half of a 1kg bag. About 3 cups at a guess.

The exact quantity really doesn't matter.

Yes, that is a three year old helper's hand.




Cook the peas with the onions until they start to heat through.

While that is heating, begin to fry a few rashers of bacon.

Once the peas are starting to cook, add enough boiling water or stock to generously cover them.

Bring to the boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes.

Take off the heat and attack with the stick blender, but not too much as its much nicer as a hearty rustic soup.

You could use a kitchen whizz (if you like washing up all those components after) or a potato masher and a lot of elbow grease.

Check the seasoning.
Be careful if your using stock that contains salt as it may mean no extra needs to be added.

If you can be bothered running out to the garden, a sprig of mint would be a welcome addition. At our house it was cold, and I was in a hurry. Enough said.

Soup and bacon all ready to go.

Little Miss 3 had already made off with some of the crispy bacon.









A few bits of toast and butter and we have a hearty dinner made with little time and effort.

 

Perfect timing as the man of the house arrived home just in time for tea.

 Clearly a successful tea time offering.

 

'What's in the Fridge' Salad

We all know the feeling: it's 5pm, partners working late, Miss 3 wants carrots for tea, and says she has a sore ear: 'come sit with me Mummy', and tea is not going to cook itself. There's a little bit of this and a little bit of that in the fridge, but it's looking like adding up to a whole lot of nothing much. Arise the fridge Salad: a clever little combination of a few simple found-in-the-fridge ingredients, combined in a flash, and on the table in no time.

I combined half a finely chopped onion, a peeled and julienned carrot (you can grate - just be sure to squeeze out the excess juice), 4 boiled shelled and chopped eggs, a few sliced cherry tomatoes, and about 1 cup of cooked pasta of any shape or description.

Lets be honest here: we all love mayo! 
 
Combine 1 generous tablespoon of mayonnaise with a glugg of olive oil and some roughly chopped parsley.
I would have added a crushed clove of garlic, but mother hubbard the cupboard was bare on that front.






Gently stir the whole lot together and serve it with whatever protein you have available. In our house tonight it was chicken. It could just as well be as simple as some crispy fried bacon added into the salad.

 

 I sprinkled some chicken breast pieces with smoked garlic salt and pepper, seared the outside in the grill pan on the stove top first and then threw them into the oven at 200deg. C.

It should be all but cooked by the time the salad is ready.
A meat thermometer is a great piece of equipment to have: the chicken should reach 75deg.C measured in the thickest part. Overcook it and it will be like eating a white facecloth.




All done and dinner's on the table. Just enough time for bathtime, Miss 3 is off to bed, and there is time left over for me!