Hi everyone, a quick update. Our hydro was restored sometime in the middle of the second night but we had already booked into a hotel not far from home. There is something so depressing about darkness, pitch darkness — not being able to find things and tripping over things, plus we wanted a warm bed and a hot shower! (Even though the house is gas heated and we have an on demand hot water domestic and heating system, the pumps are electrically operated, so there was no heat nor hot water!) I guess we could have put the fireplace on and bundled up, but not being able to shower or even eat (didn’t want to open the fridge). My biggest fear was the chest freezer in the basement but fortunately we are in great shape, there were no signs of defrosting at all. The refrigerator freezer didn’t fare so well, nor did the fridge. I suspect that when the power went off, the compressor had a lot of residual heat in it that just dissipated up (as heat rises) into the freezer and the fridge. So we had to toss a lot of stuff. But I remind myself that we were lucky, much luckier than our poor brothers and sisters to the south and east. They’ve lost more than a few shrimp and scallops! Thanks for your kind word of encouragement, we’re all good now. Now back to regular programming.
Today was a rainy, windy and chilly day. In fact, it rained all day. So uninspiring but we needed dinner tonight and lunches for the next day, so back into the kitchen I went and prepared what turned out to be a real winner: Fall Split Pea Soup with Ham.
Fall Split Pea Soup with Ham
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
- 175 g finely chopped onion
- 175 g cubed cooked ham
- 50 g pancetta, cut into small slices
- 20 g garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 2 cups green and yellow split peas
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 5-8 cm (2-3″) cinnamon stick
- 3 cups water
- 4 cups low sodium chicken stock
Directions:
- In a pressure cooker cook the pancetta until crispy then add the onions and until translucent.
- Add the split peas and sautée for a minute.
- Add the garlic and cumin and sautée for about 30 more seconds (or until you can smell the aroma), add the ham, water and stock. Now add the paprika and cinnamon stick.
- Seal the cover and cook under pressure for 45 minutes or until the split peas have softened (I use a fairly low setting). You should check the water level twice during the process to make sure it hasn’t boiled down to nothing, stir. If the liquid is too reduced, add more.
- Serve with a dollop of low fat Greek yogurt and home made bread.
I bought a tin of this yesterday (shhhh!!) and now I want the real deal! I’m so glad all is well, what a scary time that was! I couldn’t lurk in the dark either! xx
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Thanks Barbara
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Glad things are back to normal a bit for you Eva – how miserable it must have been, but as you say – it could have been so much worse! I can totally understand your desire for some comfort!
Lovely looking soup, and actually I finally have a pressure cooker now, so I could try this! 🙂
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Thanks Charles, yes our situation was an inconvenience, nothing more. Although it’s hard to keep perspective when your in the middle of it. It’s super chilly out tonight, this soup would have been perfect!
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I am so glad that you are doing better now and the losses were minimal Eva.
I hate darkness too and I know what you mean about it being depressing
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Hi Sawsan. This time of year it’s dark when we get up and it’s dark when we come home from work. It’s a real downer.
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Cinnamon is an interesting addition to this soup Eva. I’m curious to know what your inspiration was for adding this spice? I’m glad you’re back up and running with the power. What a drag. You would have been welcome at our place…but my mom was staying with us this past week. I’ll talk to you soon!
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Thanks Barb, I’ll be sure to give you a shout out next time, and if timing is right we could have a fun sleepover PJ party.
Ahhh, the cinnamon: I was thinking about a ham how its sometimes dotted with cloves and the lovely warm taste it infuses but I didn’t feel like fishing out the little bits so I thought I’d use a cinnamon stick instead.
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I have some catching up to do. I’m glad your power is back on and that all is better than expected. What a loss that would have been if the big freezer defrosted. This soup completely reminds me of my Grandpa Eva. I just saw it on Greg’s blog too. It’s filling me with warm, comforting thoughts. 🙂
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Thanks Kristy, that’s so lovely. I know you were very fond of your grandpa.
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I’m sorry to hear of your dramas, Eva. No power and cold weather – not a good combination. Your split pea soup looks very good and I’m sure it was very much appreciated given the circumstances xx
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Thanks Charlie, this time of year is so dark. Makes me wonder if your daylight is affected the same way?
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Glad your power is back, Eva. We had a miserable day yesterday with sleet and rain, and Bill would have loved some of your split pea soup. I have a ham bone in the freezer, so I will add split peas to my shopping list. Love that you added pancetta, too..YUM.
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Thank you Liz, that’s what I love about blogging – it’s the inspiration to and fro.
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Thanks for the update. Glad to hear you’re safe. This soup looks fantastic by the way.
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Thank you kindly, the slightly salty ham makes it!
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Oh dear, that’s no good about the fridge freezer but it’s good that you are all safe Eva 😀
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Thanks Lorraine. I’m just glad it was only the fridge freezer!
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What a great soup Eva! I love the spices! YUM!
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Thanks Amber, it’s definitely a tasty soup for this type of weather.
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So glad to read that your power’s back and your losses minimal, relatively speaking. What a relief!
Split pea is one of my favorite soups. More often than not, I’ll bake a ham just so I’ll have a great bone to make soup. Although I start mine with bacon, I’ve never thought to use pancetta. I would definitely like that and will give a cinnamon a try, too! Considering the week you’ve had, I bet it was quite nice to sit in your own home, in as much light as you desire, and enjoy a warm bowl of this soup. 🙂
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Thanks John, I usually have a ham at Easter so making this soup at this time if year was a treat. I prefer to make it with a ham bone, but it wasn’t possible. The cinnamon added a nice background note to this tasty soup.
You don’t realize how much you rely on electricity until its gone. It’s great that they worked so quickly to restore it. I heard recently that our transit workers have offered to help NYC with their subway cleanup.
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So glad to learn that your chest freezer fared well and you are now back to normal. Adding cinnamon stick to split soup is new to me is this an European thing?
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Hi Norma, no it’s a me thing. I was thinking about a baked ham and how it’s sometimes glazed with honey and dotted with cloves. I didn’t want to have to fish out the little cloves, so I thought a half a cinnamon stick might add the same warmth, which it did. It’s just a background flavour, it doesn’t hit you over the head.
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Eva, I am curious, in your opinion how does the cinnamon enhance the flavour of this soup?
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Since I didn’t have a ham bone, I was thinking about a baked ham and how it’s sometimes glazed with honey and dotted with cloves; I didn’t feel like fishing out little cloves, so I thought a half a cinnamon stick might add the same warmth, which it did. It doesn’t hit you over the head, it’s just a background flavour.
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this is how good things start
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Right on Zsuzsa!
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The soup looks fabulous, Eva. I can almost smell the smoked ham aroma here… It reminds me a bit of a dried pea soup my mum used to make with smoked meat. It was one of my favourite soups.
No heating in Canada (and no warm water) would also make me probably move to a hotel… I’m glad that everything has gone back to normal. I hope you will be able not to throw out all the food.
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Agreed, this time of year we want a bit of heat, but Sissi, not all of Canada is the white north. I can’t speak for the east coast, but I keep checking the temperatures between Budapest and Kamloops and most of the time it’s comparable and sometimes it is warmer here than in central Europe.
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Zsuzsa, I know… Central Europe is very cold. For me the part of Switzerland I live in (of course not up in the mountains) is almost like Mediterranean. We hardly every have snow or temperature below 0°C (though last winter was particularly cold: we even had -10 during the night). I have never needed even gloves here!
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Thanks Sissi, our’s was a mild inconvenience compared to the flooding and devastating events south of us. Considering the damage it could have been, I think we were well under $100 in good to toss, so we were lucky.
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Hi Eva! That’s one of my favorite soups. So sorry to hear about your lost power and all of the hassles that go with it.
– Michael
p.s. I see we both have mini pumpkins in our kitchens!
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Thanks Michael, I just couldn’t help myself with the mini pumpkins, they are just too cute!
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Glad to hear that your power is back as so many still seem to be shivering in cold homes and shelters in the US. Split pea and ham is one of my favourite soups.
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Thanks Maria, I couldn’t believe the winds we had even though we are so far from the ocean; I am glad they worked quickly to restore power. The soup hit the spot for such a gloomy day.
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So glad all is back to normal, and I’m sure it was greatly helped by the restorative powers of split pea and ham soup! 🙂
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Thanks Betsy, yay to pea soup!
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I think I’d be the same as you and crave a hot shower!
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It was a tough call but the hot shower won out!
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Happy all is back to normal for you. One of my favorite soups for this time of the year.
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Thanks Karen, so nice of you to drop a line while on vaycay.
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this look truly delicious 😉
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Thank you kindly and welcome to my blog.
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Today I had some soup for the lunch too. But I haven’t had split pea soup in a long while, gotta get some more as the soup season is here!
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Thanks Angie, that’s what I love about blogging, it reminds us and introduces us to new and wonderful things!
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