Pea Soup - with Smoked Haddock

Pea soup is something very familiar to me – I have made more then my share of huge pots of this lovely soup over the years – and all of them good in their own way.

It is also such an easy meal to make – basic in fact – but so ancient, wholesome and worthy of making again and again, especially during cold winter days. This is indeed a welcome meal at the end of the week.

Where I come from, in Newfoundland, this type of meal would have been made at the weekends, with salted beef usually and then some lovely dumplings cooked into the bubbling pot when the soup was ready to serve.

Of course my own recipe is a little different (go figure) because I don’t eat beef – but I have since discovered, there are so many other ways to make this dish. One of my favourite being with smoked fish of some kind.

I like it with a nice smoked haddock, but it can be made with anything you have on hand such as smoked salmon, smoked trout, or even oysters. The smoky flavour goes so well with the earthy flavour of the yellow split peas.

Perhaps, like nothing else.

To make pea soup first you need to soak your peas overnight in plenty of water. Then in the morning, place them on a slow boil in a large pot of water with a couple pieces of seaweed. I will use about 2 cups of peas for a 2 litre pot that is less then half full of water.

Next, once this is cooking start adding some ingredients – nearly anything will do. I like to add lots of carrots, turnip, sautéd onions, garlic, a sweet potato, a little celery, fennel, leek – what ever is around can go in the pot.

Then I add a heaping teaspoon each of cumin, turmeric, coriander – salt and pepper to taste and a little allspice or nutmeg. I have been known to also put in some (not much) celery seed, caraway, fennel and so forth as well. Just to give some rich flavours that go well with the peas.

In the meantime, this all cooks away in the pot until the peas become soft and the mixture starts to look creamy and soupy. On a low heat, cooking gently like this it could take up to 4 hours to get this desired consistency.

Once you have your soup ready – take off the heat and blend a little to mostly smooth out the peas, but with a few veggies still intact. Then add your boned, cooked smoked haddock.

Allow this to now sit in the very hot soup for more then an hour – actually this tastes far better the next day – and will be good even a few days later if kept in the fridge.

This soup is lovely served with any bread but we do like Socca or Rosemary Sea salt spelt bread to dip into this rich and tasty meal.

April

Pea soup - ready for haddock!

Smoked Tuna & Chick Pea Stew

If you are craving something different for the season (but not too different lol) this might be the meal for you...I like to have some fish as a change from meat (not that I eat very much of it) and this time of year a little smoked fish is great to work with.

To make Smoked Tuna and Chick Pea stew it is always tastier to soak the dried chick peas (about 1 cup) overnight in cold water and then drain in the morning. Cook these in sea weed and fresh water for about 30 or 40 minutes or until tender.

Next in a stock pot place a couple of cups of chopped veggies such as carrots, sweet potato and turnip in the water from the chick peas - together with the chick peas and the sea weed. Add a little salt and pepper, thyme or oregano.

In another saucepan sauté a chopped onion, leek and 2 or 3 cloves of garlic in a little bit of olive oil. Add 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric, ground cumin and coriander to the mixture as they cook. This will be fragrant and lovely.

Add these to the now bubbling stock pot with the chick peas and veggies. Turn down to a low heat and let cook until the veggies are quite soft and the sweet potato has thickened the stew. Once it is cooked, turn off the heat and add as much smoked tuna (cubed) as you would like.

I usually add about 2 medium sized pieces to a large stock pot of stew. If you can, let this sit for a few hours and reheat or allow to stand for at least an hour before serving. The flavours will blend and it tastes great.

Serve with a savory bread such as Rosemary Sea Salt spelt bread and cucumber salad....Yumm!

April

Smoked Tuna & Chick Pea Stew 

Festive Cooking... Smoked Fish & Haricot Salad

Yesterday I spent the day experimenting with some holiday dishes that I hope to make during our festive season. I love smoked fish at this time of the year and thought about making some interesting dishes with it.

What I like about smoked fish in particular is that it's so versatile - you can add it to nearly anything and create a lovely new dish each time. Or have it on it's own on a cracker or some bread...simple or dressed up, it is a tasty addition to any meal.

Using some smoked tuna (one of my favourites) I decided to make a warm winter salad with it. Usually this goes with a cold salad, but it was being served to children and it's a cold time of the year. So, warm salad it was....

I soaked some haricot beans overnight and then cooked them in seaweed until soft but not mushy. These were then drained off and let stand for a while. In the meantime I chopped the vegetables; leeks, grated carrots, shallots, garlic, fresh parsley and sautéd them in a little olive oil until soft.

Once the vegetables were done, I added a small amount of ground cumin and pepper to the mixture (but not salt because the smoked fish is salty) and then tossed this together with the beans and seaweed. Already it was looking very tasty.

Next I warmed up the tuna in a skillet with a little oil and then broke it up into smaller pieces. These I placed on top of the bean mixture and served with fresh Rosemary Sea salt bread and butter....

It got rave reviews from my tough taste testers, so I was very pleased with it. You can also make this using fresh salad ingredients such as lettuce, spinach, finely chopped onion and olives. It's a great way to get the goodness of the beans along with the rich flavour of the smoked tuna.

April

Smoked Tuna & Haricot Salad