Summer Pease Soup

Serves 6

• 1 cucumber, about 14 oz - 1 lb

• 2 Romaine lettuce heads or 1 head Chinese leaves

• 2 medium onions, peeled

• 2/3 cup butter, chopped

• 2 sprigs mint

• salt and pepper

• 1 cup shelled fresh young peas (or frozen if you're in a pinch!)

• 2 sprigs parsley

• 2 1/4 cups large fresh marrowfat peas

(What are marrowfat peas?: Wikipedia's article)

1. Peel, quarter, and slice the cucumber. Cut off any roots on the Romaine lettuce or the Chinese leaves, and take off the green outer leaves to be used for a salad; slice the inner lighter parts for the soup. Slice the onions thinly.

2. Place the cucumber and lettuce in a stew-pot with half of the butter. Add the mint leaves, onions, seasoning and young peas. Lastly chop and add the parsley, then the rest of the butter and 3-4 tablespoons water. Cover the pan tightly and place over low heat. Cook gently, shaking the pan fairly often, until all the vegetables are soft.

3. While those are cooking, boil the parrowfat peas in plenty of lightly salted water until tender. You can sieve them or purée them, with 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 cups of their cooking liquid. How much you add will depend on how thick you'd like your soup.

4. Combine the purée with the mixture in the pot and mix them thoroughly before serving.

Adapted from The Jane Austen Cookbook by Maggie Black and Deirdre Le Faye