To pack the soup full of flavour, it’s really important to cook the shallots and mint slowly on a low heat. All the crunch should be gone from the shallots. They should be soft and golden, and starting to pull apart into threads. It’s also important to go light on salt in the soup itself. Remember, you’ll be adding prosciutto at the end, which is quite salty. You want a creamy soup with just a hint of sweetness, crunchy croutons and salty, crisp prosciutto for a perfectly balanced dish.

Ingredients:

½ loaf of stale ciabatta
Olive oil
1 large handful of fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped
12 slices of thin prosciutto
1 bunch of spring onions, ends trimmed and finely chopped
2 tbs butter
500g frozen peas
500ml chicken stock
500ml chicken consommé
½ cup thickened cream
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method:

Break the bread into irregular 2–3cm pieces. Put these into a roasting tray and drizzle with a little olive oil; toss to coat. Cover the bread with the prosciutto slices and place under a hot grill until the bread and prosciutto are crunchy and golden, around 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, slowly fry the spring onions and mint in the butter for until soft. Turn up the heat, add frozen peas and the chicken stock and consommé. Bring to the boil then lower the heat and simmer uncovered until slightly reduced. The key is to reduce the stock up to the point where the peas are still lovely and green, not green–grey, as this will end up the overall colour of your soup. With a stick blender (or in the food processor), puree the soup until it is smooth.

Add the cream and simmer gently until reduced, approximately 15–20 minutes. Season to taste.

Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with bread, prosciutto and mint leaves (serves 4–6).

I am a massive fan of the humble pea. I think it comes from my childhood, helping Mum out by shelling the peas for dinner. They’re so sweet, fresh from the pod…it usually went something along the lines of one for me, one for the bowl. I also loved just-cooked peas with a bit of melted butter stirred through. Heaven!

Peas are delicious and so good for you. They’re an excellent source of dietary fibre and protein. They also provide vitamin C, niacin, folate, beta carotene, iron, zinc and potassium. That’s a lot of punch for something so small!

While most people opt for the convenience of frozen peas (after all, shelling peas is time-consuming), you can’t quite go past a fresh pea. They’re worth the effort because they taste so much better. I get excited when I see them at the greengrocer and yesterday I was even happier to see that broad beans were also available.

For me, that meant it was time to make one of my favourite lunches: smashed peas and broad beans on grilled ciabatta. Thank you, once again, Jamie At Home.

The dish is essentially the age-old combination of peas and mint, beefed up with broad beans, lemon and cheese, served on crusty toasted bread. Yum! Jamie suggests buffalo mozzarella on top but I prefer Persian feta.

It does look a bit like green mush when smashing it all up with the mortar and pestle but don’t be deterred, it is absolutely delicious and surprisingly filling.

It’s ideal for spring/summer because the mint and lemon juice are cool and refreshing with just the right amount of zing from grated pecorino. Pair it with a glass of pinot gris and now you’re really onto something extraordinary!

It is a quick salad to make and the flavours and textures make it a true delight to eat. We use gorgonzola dolce for the dish, which is a bit milder than the more pungent gorgonzola piccante. Each individual ingredient is beautiful to eat on its own but, when small quantities of each are combined on the fork, they are sublime.

3 pears, cored and sliced (we used corella pears)
1 fennel bulb, sliced
20g butter
200g gorgonzola
9 slices prosciutto
Watercress
Rocket
Small interesting leaves and flowers, such as chervil, chives, chive flowers, nasturtium, etc.

Serves 6

On the serving plates arrange the watercress, rocket and chervil and set aside.

Next, lay the prosciutto on baking paper on a shallow tray and place under a grill for a couple of moments until crispy. Set aside. Be careful as the grill will burn the prosciutto if it is under for too long.

Grab a wok or large frying pan and melt the butter in it. Add the sliced pear and fennel. Stir-fry for about 4 minutes over a medium heat until they are golden and starting to soften. Set aside for a moment and allow to cool so that they will not bruise the salad leaves then placed on top. Note: don’t let them cool too much as they are beautiful with the salad when they are still warm.

Arrange the pear and fennel slices on top of the leaves, top with the crispy prosciutto and broken chunks of gorgonzola. Carefully arrange the decorative edible flowers around the plates.

We enjoyed eating the salad with a glass of 10 year old merlot. Beautiful!