What happens when Russian heritage meets Welsh heritage? You get pea and ham soup with flavour!
Watery beetroot and cabbage borscht soup just doesn’t work for Ray, and the bland English Pea and Ham soup is tasteless to me. So I created my own recipe after several years of practice and today I am cooking my version of pea and ham soup for dinner guests tonight.
30 minutes to prepare, then 6 hours in the slow cooker
This recipe get three ticks:
1. It is a slow-cooker recipe so ideal for the lazy kitchen wench at heart.
2. It creates a thick traditional pea and ham soup.
3. It is flavor packed without losing the peas and ham along the way!
So lets begin ..
Ingredients
- One lazy kitchen wench
- One slow cooker 4-6L
- Bamix or blender
- Green split peas, 500gm
- Large onion
- 1-2 carrots diced
- 2 celery sticks and leaves diced
- 2 small garlic cloves diced
- cracked pepper, salt
- 2 bay leaves
- fresh thyme
- smoked ham hock, approx 750gm
Step 1: Boil the peas
I have tried lazy wench slow cookering the peas, doesn’t work and I never remember to soak them the day before so bottom line is boiling them first. I pop them into a saucepan and double the height with boiling water. Then I boil for about 20-30 minutes while I get everything else ready.
By boiling the peas it ensures they turn to mash while slow cooking later. I did learn that if they didn’t turn to mash the Bamix or blender works a treat later.
Step 2: Dice and fry the vegies
Dice up the carrot, onion and celery so you have approximately equal portions. They don’t have to look beautiful as you will blender them later, also add some diced garlic however not too much.
Turn the cooker on high or use a fry pan, add some olive oil and fry well for 10-15 minutes and remember to stir often. You really want to get a good toasty caramel colour underway as this is the secret flavour in the soup. I also find cooking it in the cooker means extra flavour gets stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Step 3: Skin the ham
The second secret ingredient is a SMOKED ham hock. Sure they cost more but this really gives a much heartier taste to your soup. Remove the packaging and carve the skin off the hock .. its perfect for the dog. I don’t trim any of the dried meat off the ends, it all softens up eventually.
Step 4: All into the pot!
That’s it, place the cooked vegies, boiled peas with their water, the hock, cracked pepper and bay leaves into the pot. Leave the thyme until later. Boil some extra water in the jug and fill you cooker to the brim.
Pop on the lid and switch to 6 hours cooking time and walk away. I do like to stir once an hour just so the bottom doesnt stick too much and roll the hock if it is sticking out of the water, but nothing more. You will find it will take at least 4-5 hours before the peas begin to disintegrate and stick to the bottom.
Step 5: Prepare and blend
After the 6 hours, remove the hock and all the chunks of meat that may have fell off. I usually place this on a plate and then shred the meat off the bone and into smaller chunks with a knife and fork. If you spot the bay leaves remove them also.
My favourite kitchen utensil is the Bamix hand blender. I have had mine for over 25 years and still use it at least once a week. I just pop the Bamix into the pot and blend the whole mixture of vegies and peas until smooth.
Simply re-add the meat, some salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves and it is perfect! Yum!
And mmmmm … left-overs
This is one of those soups that tastes fantastic the next day also but it does turn into a solid sludge. Do not add water, when you reheat your serving in a cup or bowl it remelts into its original thick consistency.
I hope you enjoy this lazy kitchen wench’s pea and ham soup. As you may have noticed I don’t really measure anything perfectly so I am sure yours will also turn out fine!
ALWAYS THE ARTIST
Even in the kitchen
Dina
