Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know that I cooked a massive smoked gammon a few weeks ago. I love gammon – I find its savoury depth very comforting, and, as someone rightly pointed out, it’s the gift that just keeps on giving – good with anything from salad to eggs, to potatoes and veg. Perfect frugal food for a full-time freelancer. But if, like me, you’re the only one working away on it – after a week or so of gammon-based lunches, suppers and snacking, you can pretty quickly find yourself with pig fatigue. I mentioned this condition to my sister, who advised freezing it. So I sliced the whole thing up, scattered some of it on one final salad (with the amazing Angeli olive oil I’ve just been sent), and whacked half of it in the freezer, along with the jug of stock I’d made from cooking the gammon in the first place.

Last night, when reaching into the freezer for some ice cubes for my pink grapefruit and gin martini (just the way I roll) I had to fight my way past the stock, gammon, and a big packet of frozen peas to get to the cubes, and that’s when the pea and gammon soup idea hit. It was like it was waiting for me there in the freezer.

I improvised with this recipe – luckily there was some mint and green chilli lying around which I thought might work nicely, and I’m quite pleased with the way it turned out – the sweet, freshness of the peas given depth by the salty meat and stocked, and perked by the mint and chilli. I whipped up some good Dijon mustard with some of the extra virgin olive oil, and drizzled it over to finish the dish.

Pea and gammon soup

fresh (when in season), tinned or frozen garden peas – about 700g
leftover gammon, ham or smokey bacon – 200g-300g
gammon or veg stock – 1kg
bunch of mint
green chilli – 1

salt and pepper to taste
bay leaf – 1
olive or ground nut oil – 2 tablespoons
white onion, chopped – 1
garlic cloves, finely chopped – 2
Dijon mustard – two tablespoons
extra virgin olive oil – 3 tablespoons

Heat the oil up in a heavy bottomed pan or Le Creuset, adding in the onions, bay, garlic, chilli and salt and pepper, cooking until the onions are soft.  If you’re using frozen peas, make sure they’re defrosting while you’re doing this. Add the stock and mint to the pan, boil and simmer for five minutes, before adding the peas (make sure you put a couple of handfuls aside to add later).

Simmer for 5-6 minutes, before taking the soup off the heat and letting it cool. When a bit cooler, liquidise – I used a stick blender straight in the pan, but you could do it in a food processor in small batches if you need to.

Once it’s a smooth, frothy consistency, you can add in the flaked ham or gammon and extra peas, and bring the heat back up, simmering for about six minutes. While it’s heating through, mix the Dijon in a little bowl with the olive oil, until you achieve a slick, runny consistency.

Ladle the soup into bowls and drizzle over the Dijon oil. Eat with crusty bread and lots of butter.