Pea and Ham Soup (slow cooker or stove)

1. Split peas are dried peas which split in half during drying process. Smaller size means no soaking required. Doesn’t taste like peas! It’s quite a neutral flavour, a bit earthy, very much dominated by the savoury flavour imparted by the ham.

Sold inpackets should be clean ie picked through, and are fine to use without rinsing. But if I bought them at the markets out of sacks, then I would rinse.

2. Ham bone – bacon and ham hocks can be purchased, over some deli counters or vac packed. They are great because they’re intended for this purpose so they’re super meaty and full of smokey flavour.

If using LEFTOVER HAM BONE then make sure there’s a decent amount of ham on it still because that’s key to the flavour in this soup.

If you can’t find a hock at least 1kg/2lb OR if you leftover ham bone is really naked, then buy a chunk of ham, chop it into ~5cm/2″ pieces and throw that in with the bone (to impart flavour into soup and for shredding later).

If your soup is lacking in flavour due to the small size of your ham bone and you don’t have extra ham, add in a sprinkle of chicken stock powder (chicken bouillon) to give it a flavour boost (I do this when I open a ham bone given to me by friends only find it’s completely naked and devoid of meat!!).

3. Storage –freezes 100% perfectly! I would freeze for 3 months to err on the side of caution, but I’m sure even longer is fine. Fridge for 4 to 5 days.

4. Nutrition per serving. This is for a hearty sized bowl that will keep you full!