June 1 may be the first day of winter in Australia, but winter doesn’t begin in the Lipscombe household until the first pot of pea and ham soup makes its appearance for the year.

Our pea and ham soup is not for the faint-hearted — it adds a new meaning to ‘hearty’, as you can literally stand your spoon up in it!

It’s the best comfort food for lunch on a cold winter’s day and it freezes well to take to work for lunch through the week.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

1 large ham hock
500g green split peas
1 cup of pearl barley, rinsed
3 large brown onions, chopped
1/2 bunch of celery, chopped
4 large carrots, chopped
3 bay leaves
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Place the ham hock in a large boiler of water and bring to the boil, cooking for just a couple of minutes — this helps remove any impurities or scum on the hock skin. Remove the hock and set aside; discard the water and wash the boiler in preparation for cooking the soup.

While the hock is blanching, chop the vegies (I put my vegies as they’re chopped into a large Glad cliplock bag, as there are a lot of vegies here and I can just discard it when I’m done — one less thing to wash up!).

Add a good splash of oilive oil to the boiler and add vegies, cooking for about 10 minutes until they’ve started to lightly brown.

Add the ham hock and remaining ingredients to the vegies and add enough water to cover. Bring to the boil and cook on a slow simmer for around 3 hours — you’ll need to stir occasionally, as this soup can stick, and top up water periodically as needed, depending on how thick you like your soup.

At the end of the cooking process, remove the ham hock. Strip the meat from the bone, shred it and return it to the soup. Stir through and serve with crusty bread.

Bon appetite!

I first came across it in Australian Good Taste magazine in 2007 and you can now find it online here. Since first making it, it has become a family favourite. Like a good curry, it also tastes great the next day. I did change the original recipe a little over a couple of makings, and here is my version.

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika (you can substitute with sweet paprika if preferred)
• 2 tablespoons ground turmeric
• 8 skinless chicken thigh fillets
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 250g chorizo sausages, roughly chopped
• 1 large brown onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed (you can substitute  with garlic powder if you want to avoid garlic breath!)
• 1 litre prepared chicken stock
• 2 cups arborio rice
• 400g can diced tomatoes
• 3/4 cup frozen peas
• 3/4 cup corn kernels (optional)

A couple of hints
* Wear disposable plastic gloves when coating the chicken, otherwise the tumeric will discolour your nails badly.
* Mix the spices and coat the chicken on a sheet of Glad Go-Between — you can then throw it away when that part of the preparation is finished and it will protect your benchtop from staining from the tumeric.
* You may need to add a little extra water at the end if you find the paella a bit dry or the rice is a bit too crunchy for your liking.