Pea & Ham Soup

Before stirring the meat in. I used yellow split peas. Next time I think I'll try to find green ones for the colour.

An amazing slow cooker recipe for pea and ham soup from a friend of ours. We made it over the weekend and it was well-received by all except Miss 2... she struggled with the texture I think but had 3 spoonfuls with the promise of yoghurt to follow! Despite that, I think it is a fantastic recipe. It can also be done in a pressure cooker or on the stove top but you'll have to work out your timings for them.

1 cup split peas (yellow or green), washed and soaked overnight

~8 cups water

1 (~700g) ham hock (a ham shank is better I think but harder to get)

1 chopped onion

Pepper & salt (usually the ham is salty enough but I added a tsp of chicken stock powder)

2 chopped carrots

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped

a chunk of pumpkin, chopped

1 sweet potato, peeled & chopped

You can add other soup vegetables like celery if you like.

Place eveything in the slow cooker (include the water that the peas were soaked in as part of the 8 cups and add more if you need to so that you cover everything in the slow cooker) and cook on low for about 7hrs or until the meat is falling off the bones.

After it is finished, remove the bones and as much of the meat as you can. Blend the soup (you don’t have to, but I prefer to. You can just give it a good stir and it will mostly break down anyway but still stay a bit chunky – depends how you like your soup). Chop the meat into small pieces and put back into soup. Stir and season with pepper again if you think it needs it.

Pea & Proscuitto Risotto

1L chicken stock, heated
1 tbsp olive oil
6 slices proscuitto
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine/vermouth (optional but it really adds to the flavour)
1 cup frozen peas
salt and pepper
(and for those who can have dairy, you will like to have 1/2 cup parmesan cheese to add after removing enough for the person with an allergy)

Heat olive oil and add proscuitto, onion and garlic and fry slowly until softened. Add the rice and turn up the heat, stirring constantly. After about a minute add the wine/vermouth and keep stirring. The alcohol flavours will evaporate.

Once the liquid has cooked into the rice, add the hot stock and a pinch of salt. Turn heat down to a simmer so the rice doesn't cook too quickly on the outside. As the stock gets absorbed, add another ladle of stock. Keep this going until the rice almost cooked, adding the peas with the last ladleful.

Spoon risotto into bowls (if you are adding parmesan you could do it individually or just take out enough to feed those who don't have it and then mix it through the rest - but make sure that you take enough!) and serve, adding pepper as desired.

My recipe is an amalgamation of this recipe from Taste.com.au and Jaime Oliver's 'The Return of the Naked Chef' Risotto recipe p134
I think the sage (in the Taste recipe) would be a great addition if you fried it up in some sort of oil rather than butter (although the butter would probably be even better... :) oh well, let's not talk about that!)

San Choy Bow

I made my own version of this recipe from the 'all recipes' website. Here's what I made:
This served 2 adults and 2 young children (but we were left wanting more - so I'd double it for 4 adults or older children)

25ml gf soy sauce
20ml Chinese rice wine
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
10ml rice bran oil
250g pork mince
1 tsp each ginger and garlic, minced
3/4 cup cooked rice vermicelli, chopped
3 button mushrooms. diced
1-2 shallots, finely sliced
100g water chestnuts, rinsed and chopped (water chestnuts are a grass not a nut)
6 iceberg lettuce cups
1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted (optional)

Combine soy, rice wine, sesame oil and five spice in a bowl
Heat oil in wok, add the mince and brown well
Add ginger, garlic, shallots and vegetables and stir fry 2-3 minutes
Add vermicelli, mix and then soy mixture and stir until heated through.
Spoon into lettuce cups, 2 per person and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Extra thoughts:
I think you could add finely diced red capsicum to make this dish more colourful and vege-ful, plus you could probably substitute finely diced celery for the water chestnuts, but it would need to be cooked more. The flavour tasted a lot of the vinegar so if you wanted it more salty, change the ratio. You can also do half pork mince, half chicken mince.

Autumn Spicy Rice

This is a Donna Hay recipe that my sister-in-law introduced us too. So yummy. You can get less spicy Chorizo sausage reasonably easily if the kids aren't keen on spice.

Serves 4-6 - it makes a lot!

1 tbs olive oil
1 red onion, sliced (but you can use any type of onion)
2-3 chorizo sausages, sliced (ensure GF - usually are)
200g butternut pumpkin, peeled and chopped
1/2 tsp chilli flakes (less if you prefer)
2 cups long grain rice
3 cups chicken stock
2 zucchinis, thinly sliced
Rocket to serve (optional)

Heat a deep fry pan over a medium heat. Add the oil, onion, chorizo, pumpkin and chilli and cook for 2-3 minutes or until onions are soft.
Add the rice and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low, cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook for 15 minutes.
Stir through the zucchini and allow to stand for 2 minutes. Top with rocket to serve.

Bacon and Mushroom Pasta

This is one I made up (although I'm sure it has been done before me!) and it has become one of our favourites.

Serves 4

4 rashers bacon, chopped into 1cm sqaures
4-5 large button mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
gf spaghetti for 4

Cook spaghetti as per instructions. Add the peas into the water just before spaghetti is ready so that they are ready together.
Meanwhile, cook the bacon until cooked as much as you like.
Make the heat low and add most of the oil and then the garlic. Gently fry the garlic for 2 min or so. Add mushrooms (they will suck up most of the oil) until cooked, add the rest of the oil and then return bacon to pan to reheat.
Drain pasta and peas and add them to the fry pan. Mix it up until well combined. Serve.
Add pepper, and parmesan for those who can have it.