Borage Leaf, Pea and Garden Mint Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 125 g spring onions, roughly chopped
- 200 g borage leaves, shredded into 1cm strips
- 125 g fresh peas (reserve a few of the smallest for serving – see below)
- 1 l chicken or vegetable stock
- 4 large sprigs of fresh garden mint, leaves picked
- Sea salt and black pepper
- 6 tbsp fried potatoes with pickled wild garlic flower buds (to serve, optional)
- 4 soft-poached chicken eggs (to serve, optional)
- A small handful of borage flowers (to serve, optional)
- A small handful of pea shoots (to serve, optional)
- A few peas, raw and freshly podded (to serve, optional)
- Extra virgin olive oil (to serve, optional)
Instructions
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Melt the butter in a large pot over a low heat and gently fry the spring onions for around five minutes until soft.
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Stir in the peas and cook for a further minute, then stir in the shredded borage leaves.
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Pour over the stock and turn up the heat to bring the pot to a gentle simmer (stirring occasionally to encourage the borage leaves to wilt and cook). Once the stock is bubbling, add the mint leaves and then continue to cook for around five minutes until everything is tender, but the flavours are still fresh. Season with sea salt and black pepper, then blitz the soup in a blender until smooth.
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Serve warm with crusty bread on the side. If you are serving the soup with the optional extra garnishes, start by putting a couple of large spoonfuls of the wild garlic flower potatoes in the bottom centre of each bowl; divide the soup between the bowls, gently pouring it around the potato 'islands'; put the poached eggs on top of the potatoes; and scatter over the raw peas, borage flowers, and pea shoots; then add a little more sea salt, black pepper and a trickle of olive oil to finish.