Pea And Ham Soup

Ingredients

• 1 Ham bone with a bit of meat left on it 
• 1 packet of dried split green peas
• 1 litre of water
• 1 teaspoon of whole cloves
• 1 - 4 cloves of garlic depending on taste
• 2 bay leaves
• One large onion or 2 smaller onions
• 2 potatoes chopped into small cubes

To Finish 

Thickened cream or small punnet of Sour cream

Method
Create your soup stock by simmering the ham bone in the water with the garlic, onions, cloves, and bay leaves for 1 hour. This should be a very gentle simmer, do not boil or it will toughen the meat.

Drain the stock into another container temporarily and remove all the ingredients - discard bay leaves and cloves and any pieces of ham that do not look appealing. Put aside any ham pieces that have dropped from the bone and then take any ham still left on the bone off also put aside - we'll put this back in later but we don't need to overcook it.
Add the split peas and potatoes to the stock and simmer for about 1.5 hours - you'll know when it's done because the split peas will start to break down into mush - this is exactly what we want and will give a nice thick quality of the soup.

When you are satisfied the split peas have disintegrated enough add the ham you put aside earlier.

Serve with a dollop of thickened cream or sour cream, alternatively stir in a punnet of sour cream to thicken and give a creamy texture though personally i prefer the dollop on top and then let each person do their own stirring My daughter loves to mix everything in but some members of the family don't!

Hope you have enjoyed my Leftover Ham Recipes , rate my Pea And Ham Soup or leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Heather