Earlier this week, Roy was fascinated to see the pea sheller I showed the children, and to learn a little about the history of peas. Roy loves peas, in whatever form they come, and really wanted to make something using them. He thought of making a dip, or a stew, but settled on an old favourite, pea and ham soup. Roy loves soup, especially on these cold days we have been having, and pea and ham is one of his favourites. He thought he would like to share this soup with you too. So this week Roy Creates Pea And Ham Soup.
You Will Need:
Note: this will make a lot of soup. If you only want enough for 4-6 people, only use half the packet of peas and adjust the ingredients as needed (use the whole ham hock). However, Roy likes to have some soup in the freezer, and this soup freezes very well, so Roy was happy to have leftovers.
- A packet of dried, green peas. You will need to soak them overnight or follow the quick cook instructions on the packet.
- A smoked ham hock
- 2 or 3 carrots. Roy used 2 big carrots
- 3 sticks of celery. You can use the leaves in this soup too as you will be pureeing it at the end.
- 1 large onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 and 1/2 to 2 litres of liquid. Roy had some ham stock he had made from the Christmas Ham bone in the freezer, and topped it up with chicken stock. You can use all chicken or all vegetable stock if you prefer
- Pepper to taste.
- Any other vegetables you would like to add. Roy also had a leek he wanted to use, 1/2 a bunch of parsley and a few little 'Dutch Carrots' which he chopped up and threw in.
Method:
- Soak the peas. The night before you want to make the soup, put the peas into a large bowl, cover them with water and leave them to soak overnight. In the morning, drain the peas using a sieve, rinse them and put them into a slow cooker. If you don't have a slow cooker, put them into a big pot.
- Cut up all the vegetables, including the garlic and parsley. You don't need to worry about them being too fine as you will be pureeing the soup at the end. If your pot or slow cooker is big enough, add the celery leaves too. Put the vegetables in the pot with the peas and stir them around.
- Sit the ham hock on top of the vegetables.
- Season with pepper. DO NOT add salt - it will make the peas harder to cook. You can add salt at the end if you want to.
- Pour over the stock.
- Turn the slow cooker on and leave it to simmer away all day. If you are using a pot, bring the soup to the boil, then turn it down until it is just simmering very gently.
- Before serving, take the ham hock out, remove the bones and skin and use a couple of forks to shred the meat.
- Use a stick blender to puree the soup (minus the meat) until it is smooth.
- Stir the meat through the soup.
- Serve and enjoy!