P & H soup….

I could say “I hate pea and ham soup”, but the reality is more along the lines of.. “I really dislike the ‘traditional’ version of this soup”.  It has always been like this. Euck.

Mum is a good cook and makes great soup, so I have no doubts that hers is pretty good.  A good friend is also a fab cook, but I didn’t like her P&H soup either… We figured it was the texture of those darned split/dried peas that was the problem.
Now, hubby loves pea and ham soup, so I thought that as the combination is not a bad one, just the specific parts of the Pea ingredient, I would endeavour to make my own version.

A while ago now I made some and although it needed some tweaking it tasted alright.
Coming home from holidays meant the fridge/cupboard is devoid of food, so scouring the freezer for something to eat led to my discovery of a small portion of said soup.

As I ate, I decided I should make some more and see if Hubby likes my version.
What do I do that makes mine bettter than the original…? I make it more like a broth with chunks of (not dried!) peas and ham 🙂

So my recipe went something like this… (to be edited next time I make it)

– slow cook the ham hocks in a pot with vege stock. At least 4 are needed to get enough meat.
– once cooked, I then fried up onion, garlic and celery, added the now-shredded meat and fresh or frozen peas (2+ cups (adjusting as required)), some parsley and the stock.
– simmer til the peas are cooked and seasoning to taste.

my soup...

I’m thinking of trying it with some minted peas thrown in, plus fresh mint at 5-mins-before-serving time… not sure if that will result in a better soup though?

I’d love to hear if there are other ways to make this or something I could do to make it better… I do love cooking but making up my own recipies is mostly hit ‘n’ miss.  That said, there is not much I cook that even I wont eat.

Keep smiling, even though you hate the food (at least you have some) 🙂

Jennifer