Pea Soup

Pea Soup has always been a family favourite. It's comfort food for a cold winter's day, but I made it yesterday, because it was a cold August day. It's also a soup that works extremely well in a slow cooker.  Put it on in the morning and it's ready by noon.  It's best served with fresh from the oven homemade bread, and cheese.  My son Bram really likes to put the cheese in small chunks into the hot soup so that they melt.

You will have many choices when you go to purchase dried peas at the grocery store; whole or split? Green or Yellow?  Personally, I prefer the split green peas the best, and would take split over whole in any case.  I particularly like to make pea soup after I've baked a ham, and to start it by putting the ham bone with the left-over ham on the bone into the slow cooker.  However, it is also a good vegetarian soup.

OK, that's enough commentary, here's the recipe.

Pea Soup
1 pkg (450 g. or 1 lb) split green peas
1-2 carrots, cut into pennies
1 onion, diced
1-2 stalks of celery, sliced
About 6-8 cups water (if I'm starting the soup later in the morning and want it ready for lunch, I add boiling water, otherwise I don't worry about it).
Most people put in 1-2 potatoes in their pea soup, however I'm allergic to potatoes, so I never do.  I occasionally,dice up a sweet potato and put it in.  I would put that as optional, however.
Also optional is the addition of any meat.  If you have a ham bone, start with that.  If you have leftover ham, add it closer to the end of the cooking period.

Cook until the peas look like they've been pureed.  The carrots should still be largely intact.  
I never add salt while cooking, but pea soup definitely needs salt before serving.  If you've cooked it with ham, it will need less salt, so taste it first.  It's also good with the addition of cracked black pepper.