Pea And Mint Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 3/4 quarts chicken (try organic!) or 1 3/4 quarts vegetable broth (try organic!)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 celery ribs, sliced
2 medium onions, peeled and roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
5 1/2 cups frozen peas
of fresh mint, small bunch, chopped, to taste (could use only 1/2 a bunch)
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Optional
3/4 lb cooked ham

Preparation

Pour the broth into a medium saucepan and heat until boiling.
In a separate, large saucepan on medium heat, add 2 T. of olive oil.
Add the prepped carrots, celery, onions and garlic and mix together. Put a lid on, slightly off center so some steam can escape. Cook this for about 10 minutes, until the carrots are tender but still holding their shape and the onions are golden.
Add the boiling broth to the veggies.
Add the peas.
Stir and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, bring the soup to a simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until peas are softened.
Take the pan off the heat and season with salt and pepper and add some mint leaves. *Jamie says to use a small bunch. I think this is a matter of personal taste, in terms of how much mint flavor you like to shine through. Start out small and increase until your taste buds are pleased! I added about half a bunch of chopped mint and thought it was enough for my tastes.
Using an immersion blender (or blender), blend the soup until smooth. (If you are using a regular blender, do it in batches so the hot soup won't come out the top of your blender).
Optional:
If you are using ham, chop it up into bite-size pieces and stir it into the blended soup.
Heat the soup through before serving OR let it cool, store it in your fridge and eat it cold anytime you'd like!