Summer Cooler : Lettuce, Pea and Caramelised Bacon Soup

It's back to soup. 

I picked this soup because it's fresh, make use of that lettuce which has been waiting all its live in the fridge and it's .........very green, cooking lettuce might sound a bit weird but once cooked the taste is not much different from raw: very mild flavour with a certain sweetness, here enhanced by the peas and the caramalised bacon.

Lettuce, Pea and Caramelised Bacon Soup

Ingredients

serves 2/3

1 Bacon rasher (chopped small) per person

2 teaspoons sugar

400g frozen peas

4 little gem or a large lettuce chopped roughly

600ml vegetable stock (chicken will do and that's roughly a pint and a bit)

butter

salt & pepper to taste

Method

In a small pan, heat butter and fry the bacon dices until quite crispy, add 2 teaspoons sugar and stir without stopping until all the sugar is melted

Remove the bacon and reserve. Replace by the lettuce, it will wilt fast, after a couple of minutes add the peas,  salt and pepper to taste, the stock and simmer for 10 minutes.

Pour in a liquidiser or use a hand mixer and process. At this stage you have two options : serve or sieve and discard the shelves of the peas. The latter is my favourite, it doesn't lose its consistency and it's smoother. Let the soup cool.

To serve: return the bacon to the soup and add whipped double cream if you wish

Here is another Lettuce soup recipe from back when Pebble Soup began: Sexy Lettuce and Ginger Soup

I love this so much that I am linking back one of my favourites food blog, guess which