Split Pea & Ham Soup

I love pea and ham soup, which is a strange concept for someone who detests peas!
However, I have never made it myself, until today. This is pretty much your standard recipe, found everywhere. I just tweaked it marginally, because it's how I roll.

INGREDIENTS:
500g split green peas, rinsed thoroughly and drained (pick out gross bits as they float)
1 ham hock, around 700g (meaty preferred)
3 carrots, diced
1 potato, diced
2-3 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, diced
1 tbspn olive oil
1L reduced salt chicken stock (plus 1L water)
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper, to season

METHOD:
Heat large pan over medium heat with oil. Add onion and garlic, cook until translucent. Add remaining ingredients, then cover and simmer for 2.5 hours, stirring occasionally (make sure you shift the stuff settling on the bottom).
Remove bay leaf and hock, then blend the soup, or mash for a chunkier consistency. Remove skin and fat from hock, then roughly chop the meat before returning to soup.
Best served with fresh sourdough. Yummm! 

Enjoy!

- L. x

Mexican Chicken Soup [Slow Cooker]

Wow. I have almost posted more today than I have in the past two months combined!

Anyway, earlier in the year I found a bunch of recipes and prepped, then freezed, a bunch of meals. One of those was a Mexican chicken soup. I finally cooked it up about a month ago, and no word of a lie, it was the best thing I have ever had! I was on the cusp of getting sick, in the middle of submitting like, four assignments, that were all due within five days of each other, and just wanted something easy. Ended up with SO MUCH MORE!!!

Ever since, I have been trawling the internet, trying to find the recipe... Well, today, I did it. I stumbled across an old bookmark that I had copy/pasted into a document after prepping all those meals, but then forgot about. It is quite the occasion!!!! I'm going to make it again, because it's amazing. But I'm also going to put it here so I can easily share it with everyone I know, and also so I never lose the recipe again. ;)

The recipe can be found here.

Enjoy!

- L. x

Roast Pumpkin Soup

SOUP SEASON IS UPON US!

I love soup.

Spawn is sick, and I'm busy with homework, so what's better than making a big pot of pumpkin soup? Extra garlic and ginger for their illness curing abilities.

Behold, my roast pumpkin soup recipe!

INGREDIENTS:
1 butternut pumpkin, halved with seeds removed
1 brown onion, peeled and halved
2-4 cloves garlic, peeled
Olive oil and salt, for seasoning
3-4 cups chicken stock
1cm ginger, finely grated (optional)
1 cup cream
Salt and pepper, to taste

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 220C and line a baking tray. Place pumpkin on tray and drizzle with oil, then sprinkle with salt. Cook for 30 minutes, then add onion and garlic, and cook for a further 30 minutes, or until pumpkin is lightly golden and slightly soft to touch. Allow to cool.
Scoop pumpkin away from skin and place in large saucepan (if using a barmix) or blender, along with onion, garlic, 1 cup or so of stock, and ginger. Blend until smooth [pour into saucepan if blended] then add 2 cups of chicken stock and 3/4-1 cup cream (to taste/until desired consistency) and heat on medium-low until hot. Serve as is, or with sour cream.

Enjoy!

L. xx