161. Yellow Split Pea Soup (p. 111)

When I sat down to Easter dinner a few months ago, I was more than a little distracted. Sure there was a lot of great food and lively conversation in the dining room. But, my mind was back in the kitchen, where a great big, meaty ham bone rested on a cutting board, just begging to be turned into pea soup. I knew that I'd have to arm-wrestle my sister-in-law over the ham bone. Somehow, I persuaded her to let me take it in exchange for some pea soup.

With the zip-locked ham bone in hand, I left my sister-in-law's house on Easter Sunday a happy man. I put the ham bone in the fridge, and made this recipe the following weekend. Now, even though it's been a couple of months since I made this soup, I'm just writing about it now because I hadn't actually eaten any of it until about a week ago.

First, I rinsed some yellow split peas. Next, I combined the rinsed peas, some water, chopped onion, and the ham bone in a big pot and brought it to a boil. I skimmed off the yucky stuff, and reduced the heat and simmered it for about an hour.

Meanwhile, I sauteed some more chopped onion and some chopped leek in some butter. I added these sauteed vegetables to the soup with some fresh chopped chives, some dried savory, and salt and pepper. After another hour of cooking, I removed the ham bone, picked off whatever meat hadn't fallen off and added it to the soup.

Once the soup cooled, I divided it into four large containers. I gave one to each of my two sisters-in-law, and I put the other two in the freezer. Other than a spoonful to taste, I didn't eat any of the soup until I pulled one of the containers out of the freezer for lunch last week.

This soup was excellent. Thick, hearty, silky, salty and meaty. I'm sure that I'm going to fight for the ham bone next Easter, too, so that I can make this soup again.

Date Cooked: April 19, 2009
Degree of Difficulty: Medium
Rating: A

138. Deviled Ham (p. 496)

Please don't read anything into the fact that I've done two posts in a row about "deviled" foods. I haven't lost my moral compass or gone over to the dark side. It's just that I ended up with a ton of leftover ham from Easter dinner, and needed to find something to do with it. This recipe* was a perfect fit.

This is a very short recipe. Just four ingredients and only 27 words of instruction. Because I only skimmed those 27 words instead of reading them carefully, I made this simple recipe even easier by combining two of the steps. And do you know what, the finished product was none the worse for it. First I cut up the leftover ham into smallish chunks. I tossed them into my food processor along with some butter, Dijon mustard and mango chutney (The Book calls for Major Grey's, but I could only find some generic mango chutney). I whizzed it all up until it was finely chopped and a spreadable consistency. After I made this, I realized that I was supposed to chop the ham and whiz the dressing separately and then stir them together. Points for me for increased effeciency.

I spread some of this on crackers as a snack, and I've also been enjoying it on sandwiches for lunch this week. All in all, this was a pretty good use for leftover Easter ham. Another good use for leftover Easter ham is the Yellow Split Pea Soup that I'll post about next.

Date Cooked: April 18, 2009
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Rating: B+

*This recipe is not on epicurious.com