Split Pea, Ham, and Mushroom Soup

I have to thank both Emily Farrow and my parents, Allan and Eleanor Odden, for this soup. Emily Farrow gave me The Joy of Cooking as a wedding gift. The following recipe is based on the Split Pea or Lentil Soup recipe on pages 177-178. Some of the instructions below are taken word for word and I maintained the formatting. You'll have to compare to get a sense for what I changed.

My parents often made a split pea and ham soup around Christmas. I can't remember if they did it every year, but often enough to make an impression. I remember their soups being yummy and thick. Their soups had plenty of ham and veggies. The Joy of Cooking recipe is simply a split pea soup with the flavors of ham and veggies. I changed it to be a thick and chunky soup. A more descriptive name would be Ham and Mushroom Soup with Green Broth. :-) But that sounds strange.

Split Pea, Ham, and Mushroom Soup

Wash and soak in 8 cups of water
2 cups split peas
Drain the peas, reserving the liquid. Add enough water to the reserved liquid to make 10 cups. Adding peas again, cook, covered, 2.5-3 hours with
a ham bone
~5-6 slices of ham, depending on the size
Add and simmer, covered, 2 hours longer until tender:
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery (with leaves)
1 cup chopped carrots
2 cups crimini mushrooms finely chopped (twice through and egg slicer)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp thyme
Remove bones and bay leaf.
Season to taste

When we made this at Christmas we let it sit for an hour off the heat because we were watching the second Transformers movie and Micah was sleeping. We all added salt and pepper to our bowls. (As a general rule, if you want to add salt and pepper to the soup as you cook it, you can add 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper.) The soup was wonderful!

Coleslaw

The original coleslaw was made with green cabbage and pink lady apples. Pink lady apples have a very bold sweet flavor. I can't remember if I put sugar in it or not. This version was the perfect combination of sweet and tangy without being tart.

The second time I made this I used red cabbage and some kind of apple similar to a wine sap (I forgot the name...black something, maybe black twig). When I was making the sauce I thought it needed sugar (it wasn't in my original recipe as I wrote it down originally). I added 1 Tbs of sugar. This version was more tart and didn't have the same sweet and tangy flavor that the original did. It was good but not as good as the first time.

The difference in flavor could be attributed to some combination of the following: the red cabbage, or the type of apple, or the amount of sugar. I would possibly add 1/4 of sugar to a future recipe instead of 1 Tbs because I remember a mound of sugar in the pot the first time I made it.

I think what makes this recipe so good is rice vinegar substituted for white vinegar. Rice vinegar is my favorite vinegar. I think white wine vinegar has a similar flavor.

Anyway, here's the recipe:

Sarina's Coleslaw

Chop finely or grate into a large bowl:
1/4 large green or red or combination cabbage
1/4 large white onion
4 medium carrots
1/2 apple

Combine in saucepan and heat until hot:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 Tbs cider vinegar
1 Tbs sugar or honey (or perhaps 1/4 cup)
1 tsp salt
Pour over veggies, mix well, cover and refrigerate.
Serve cold.

-------

Taken from the following two recipes:

1) www.kretschmannfarm.com
Sweet-and-Sour Red Cabbage and Apple Salad--Slice cabbage thin, cut 1 apple into 1/2" cubes, slice 1 green pepper into thin strips, chop 1 small onion finely, toss. Cook 1/2c wine vinegar, 1T honey, 1/2t caraway seeds,1/8t black pepper and cloves until mixture just begins to boil. Pour hot mixture over salad and toss well. Let stand for 30 min. before serving.

2) (I don't remember the website.)

Colorful Coleslaw

Ingredients:

* 3 pounds grated cabbage
* 1 diced green bell pepper
* 1 diced red or yellow bell pepper
* 1 small white onion, thinly sliced
* 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
* 3/4 cup white vinegar
* 1 cup Splenda or sugar
* 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
* 1 tablespoon salt

Directions:

Combine all vegetables in a large bowl. Mix the other ingredients together in a saucepan
. Heat over a medium heat until hot. Pour mixture over vegetables. Mix well and refrigerate for at least three hours. Serve cold.

Variation: Use cider vinegar instead of white vinegar