Split Pea Soup, Cajun Chicken with Garden Veggies

I had tired bacon in the fridge and two cups of yellow split peas in the cupboard, so soup was a natural. Fern and I both love pea soup. We tried the Habitant brand a few weeks back and it has been watered down from what it used to be. We were quite disappointed. This pot restored our relish for pea soup.

I diced an onion, a couple of carrots, a stick of celery and the left over bacon. I fried the bacon till crisp, then sweated the vegetables with the bacon.  Two cups of split peas to ten cups of water. A teaspoon of salt, a couple of bay leaves. Bring to a boil reduce heat, cover and simmer for a couple or three hours. If it's till wet, remove the lid and let the soup reduce an hour or till thickened.

Cajun Chicken is just salted and seasoned with Cajun spice mix, brushed with oil and BBQ'd for 20 minutes at medium high heat. The vegetable medley was tasty too. I cut the onion, peppers and celery into larger chunks then lightly sweated them in the pan. Sprinkle half a teaspoon of flour and a packet of beef stock over the pan and toss for a minute.  Add half a cup of water and when the water has reduced leaving the veggies glistening, add a few drops of Chinese fish sauce. Toss and plate. The fish sauce smells like dirty socks but leaves behind incredible flavour.

The soup and veggies were fantastic. The chicken was as good as ever.