Mama Ward's Pea and Mint Soup

Courtesy of ifood.tv

Last week I was ill with cold and the Hub made me the yummiest Pea & Mint soup, courtesy of our friend's mom - Mama Ward from Wales. It's just filled with vitamin enriched veg and tastes so creamy, it's surprising that it's actually free of any fatty cream.
Enjoy!

• 50g butter
• 1 small potato peeled and diced
• 1 garlic clove crushed
• 2 sticks of celery roughly chopped
• tsp. sugar
• large sprig fresh thyme
• 100 ml white wine
• 1 litre veg or chicken stock
• 500g frozen peas
• 20g pack fresh mint
• 100g fresh spinach
• freshly ground black pepper
• salt to taste if needed

Melt butter in large pan over med. heat, add potato, garlic, celery, sugar, thyme and pepper. Sweat gently in the butter for about 10 mins stirring regularly.

Add wine and cook until the liquid has reduced by a third. Then add the stock, bring to the boil and boil rapidly for about four minutes.

Strip the leaves from the mint, remove the thyme and then add the peas, mint leaves and spinach to the boiling mixture and remove from the heat straight away. Blitz until smooth and adjust seasoning.

This is the recipe as set, however if you are using 'garden mint' and coarser than the usual small-leaved spinach as sold in packs then cook these along with the peas for five minutes or so until the leaves are really tender. It doesn't change the quality of the soup and it's important that the leaves are cooked properly.

Courtesy of Britishstreetfood.co.uk

The Hub and I ocassionally have to make do with what's in the fridge (because we are too lazy to go out to the shop), but here are some alternative substitutions that turned out a success!

• Instead of white potato, try power food sweet potato instead (my personal preference)
• Instead of celery and spinach, mix in another green veg like broccoli
• White wine vinegar is great if you forgot the white wine, but just reduce the portion size and use your senses
• Instead of butter, I would recommend olive oil margarine spread or something similar that's a bit easier on your corazon

Bottle Apostle

Good wine shops are hard to come by. Especially near Broadway Market, which is odd. My dear friend Laurene, who has one of the most amazing palettes, recommended Apostle to the Hub and I in neighboring Victoria Village. She is a sommelier and everything she introduces us too is delicious so we had to give it a go. The owner, who does come across a bit high brow, is very nice and gave us great recommendations within our budget.

So far we've tried the following, which I highly recommend:

The Travesia Merlot was lovely, easy drinking and fruity.

Quinta de Lagoalva was rich and intense, like a Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon. So good. I'm dying to taste the following based on the labels alone.

Lucky Chip: Yummy Burgers Just on our Door Step

For months now, my husband and I have been getting a good whiff of beef from the Netil Market across our apartment and we finally decided to get our hands on whatever was coming from the street meat cart.

So last Saturday, after hours of bathing in some rare London sun , the hub, my good friend Heather, and I headed to the Lucky Chip cart for some much sought after burgers. We went for bacon burgers, el chappo, one order of truffle fries, and one order of wasabi mayo and ginger sweet chili fries.

Let me just say delish! It kind of reminded me of Corner Bistro because it's a dirty burger; forgo the knives and forks here. The Ginger Pig patty seeps right into the buttery brioche bun and then there's the toppings - pickles, cheese, bacon...It was well worth the reasonable $6.50 plus it's BYOB.