Man Soup

One our friends makes Pea and Ham soup just the way Andrew likes it. She calls it Man Soup. I have been a little reluctant to make it because of the plethora of recipes out there, not knowing just what to do. Today however, with the chill autumn steeling in, I bought a bacon hock and some peas and decided to make it up based on the different recipes I'd read. This isn't a fancy pants recipe but it is good and unfussy. It tastes wonderful and I think would be very good slow-cooked.





You need:
1 smoked ham/bacon hock
1 large onion or 2 small onions
3 stalks of celery
1 litre chicken stock
2 litres water
2 cups dried peas [I used the no-need-to-soak kind]

How to go about it:
Put the hock, stock and water in a pot. Set water to simmer at a happy bubble. Dice the onion and add to the pot. Leave it to simmer for about an hour. Skim off the fat from the top.

Finely slice the celery and add to the pot with the peas. Stir. Reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer, put a lid on and cook another 2+ hours. Stir it every 15 min or so so it doesn't stick.

When the soup is about done [the peas will have 'melted' and the soup will be thick], lift the hock from the pan, and strip it of all the meat. Most of it is fat and connective tissue, so its easiest to find the meat by using your fingers. Chop the meat into small pieces and return to the pot.

There. Its done. If you want you can blend it a bit or serve as is.