Split pea and smoked ham soup

I have spoken at length before about how much savoury mince scarred my childhood culinary experiences but I encountered another beauty on the weekend that I never thought would be made right. Pea and ham soup.

I have visions of my father standing over an enormous pot stirring, with his head resting on his arm placed on the range hood and sniffing in the most extraordinary aroma of ham bones and legumes. Trouble was, my dad was too resourceful for his own good. If we didn't have ham, why wouldn't a beef shin work? No split peas? Just use red kidney beans. There were too many iterations of this soup that I care not to remember but even when he got it right, it was oh so wrong.

My partner loves the stuff. If he was ever going to eat a tinned soup then pea and ham would be it. We have had many a discussion about how amazing/revolting it is and I have brushed it aside, never expecting to eat it again. Until the other weekend. I challenged myself to make a decent pea and ham soup, one that was palatable and left those horrid 1970s memories back where they belonged. "Why have I waited so long!?" I cried.

It was delicious. Smooth, smoky, packed full of vegies and goodness. Having been a massive fan of any chicken soup, this one leaves them on the bench when it comes to a classic winter warmer. I have already vowed to make a batch every weekend until the weather tells me otherwise.

Split pea and smoked ham soup

Cooking time: 2 hours
Serves 6

• 1 large ham hock
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2L chicken stock
• 350g split yellow peas
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper

  Fry onion, carrot celery in oil until softened. Add stock, split peas and ham hock and simmer for 1.5 hours. Remove scum from top with a spoon throughout the cooking time.

  Remove ham hock from stock and let cool. When cooled, remove fat and skin from ham hock and dice meat. Set aside. Blend soup until smooth, return ham to pot with the blended soup and stir through thyme leaves.

  Serve with crusty buttered bread.