French Canadian Pea Soup with Ham

Every winter we make a pot of baked beans.  And every winter we make at least one pot of pea soup.

Ingredients:

900 g (2 lbs) dry whole yellow peas
3/4 - 1 lb cooked ham, cubed (or ham bone with some meat still attached)
6 cups cold water
7 cups boiling water
2 onions, chopped
1 stalk celery with leaves, chopped
4 bay leaves
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp savory
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp dry parsley
1 tsp salt (or to taste, remember there is salt in the ham)
cheesecloth

Start by soaking the peas in cold water overnight.  Check and add more water to cover the peas if it gets absorbed.

Drain and rinse.  Fill pot with peas and 6 cups cold water, cover and bring to a boil.  Then turn heat off and let stand covered for 1 hour. Drain.
Combine peas, boiling water, onion, celery, thyme and savory in a large soup pot. Tie the ham (or ham bone) and bay leaves up in cheesecloth tied with string

and sit that in the pot too.

Cover and return to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours. Remove the ham packet to cool.

In a food processor pulse the soup in batches  then add the parsley and salt.  Open the packet and discard the bay leaves. Add the ham back to the pea soup and enjoy.

You might also like to try:

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2014/01/old-fashioned-baked-beans.html

or

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2014/03/guinness-baked-beans.html