It's not just pea soup.....

Growing up I always enjoyed hot soups. My mom was a magician at taking so little and making so much. One of my favorites was pea soup but that was one soup mom did not make. She would honor my request for such a soup and would purchase can pea soup. The can soup she would select was Habitant, a French Canadian style and it was the best. Unfortunately it was not a fast mover on grocery store shelves here and was not available. I'm not sure if it is now, for I have long stopped looking and I started to make my own which is quite similar to the one I remember a a kid. Pea soup has a long history. Seems it was a staple on the explorations of Champlain in the 17th century. Here's my recipe for this rich flavorful soup.

Ingredients..ham bone with lots of leftover bits of meat, if that's not available a couple of smoked ham hocks will do...2 large carrots,..1 large onion...2 medium red potatoes...fresh ground black pepper. I don't add salt to this recipe at this point, the ham can be salty enough. You can always add salt at the table,...and one and a quarter bags of green split peas, each bag is about 1 lb.

In a large pot place the ham bone, add 10 cups of cold water, half of the onion and one carrot roughly cut in about four pieces. Place on stove and bring to a boil reduce to a simi-fast simmer and cook for an hour. Remove ham bone and place on a dish and let cool. Now add to the stock the potatoes diced small, the other half of the onion and the last carrot, these should also be diced, and the dried peas. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce to a simmer. This is where the love comes in. A cover is placed on the soup and the slow simmer continues....care must be taken to not let the the soup thicken without stirring. The process will take about 2 hours. In the meantime remove all the meat from the bone, try to make the pieces vary in size. Add the meat to the soup and cook about 15 minutes. Your soup should be done. If the soup is to thick you can add water, a little at a time. I like mine thick. This soup is best served the day after it's made. Don't be scared if the soup looks like a thick mess when you remove it from the refrigerator just place it on the stove a warm slowly on low heat, stirring.

Serve this hearty soup with a crusty french bread and enjoy.

"Antipasto" the before the meal "Meal"

Many times this is the complete meal. I like mine with crisp greens, roasted red peppers, ham, thin sliced soppressata, a sharp cheese, olives, all drizzled with EV olive oil and fresh lemon.