Split Pea and Ham Soup

Mr. Loonie cooked up a big ol' ham last weekend for Sunday dinner. Do you know how much that is to eat between two people (and maybe a little bit for the doggy)? It's A LOT!! We have eaten original meal, a left over meal, ham sandwiches, ham and egg sandwiches, ham pizza and now we will be eating ham soup for a few days......oi! OR should that be oink?!

I took the basic idea for ratios of peas:ham:water from here (sorta) but after that I basically surfed around looking for the various spices other recipes called for. I used the following, tasting as I went:

Ground Cloves

Smoked Paprika

Garlic

Cayenne

Nutmeg

Thyme

Bay Leaf

Celery Salt

Black Ground Pepper

My Method:

Sauté up the onions and carrots in olive oil. Celery would be good here too. Add spices at this point to build flavour (I was quick on the draw with the camera and had only thyme in the pot for this picture).

Add ham bone, 16oz bag of split peas and approximately 8 cups of water.  Bring to a boil and let simmer for an hour or until peas are tender. 

I didn't have enough ham on the bone so I added some chopped up leftover ham. (Someone special may get the bone for a treat ;p).  Add more water or stock to the pot if needed.

 Enjoy with a good piece of crusty bread on a cold day!  Not the prettiest picture but you get the point!