Split Pea and Ham Soup with Garlic Parmesan Monkey Bread

Split Pea and Ham Soup

A great soup to have in the winter, especially after coming in from fun, vigorous outside activities.  A great accompaniment for this hearty soup is garlic parmesan monkey bread.

Ingredients:

1 large ham bone with a generous amount of meat

3 diced onions

1 litre of water

2 cups of dried split peas – rinse out before using.

2 cups of frozen peas

2 cups of diced carrots

Place ham bone into large Dutch oven on the stove.  Add diced onions and split peas.  Pour in approximately 1 litre of water.  You can add more later if desired.  Put lid on and simmer for around 3 hours – up to 4 hours if you wish – so that the meat will come off  the bone easily.  No salt is needed because there is enough in the ham.  After 3 or 4 hours remove the ham bone and any other pieces of meat that have already come off.  Set meat aside to cool for awhile.  Add the carrots and frozen peas to soup.  Stir, put the lid back on and cook for another 10 minutes.  Take the meat off the ham bone and break or cut into bit-sized pieces.  Add back into the Dutch oven, stir, and it’s ready to serve!

Garlic Parmesan Monkey Bread

This is a great bread to have on hand to serve with a bowl of soup.  Lots of flavour and fun to make as well.  It’s made from a basic dough much like you would make for pizza or buns.

Ingredients

2 cups of flour plus ½ – ¾  cup more

1 tsp salt

1 tsp instant yeast

2 tbsp oil – olive or canola

Approximately 1 ½ cups of lukewarm water

2 eggs

¼ tsp salt

2 tsp garlic powder

4 tsp green onions, finely chopped

2 tbsp dried parsley

5 tbsp melted butter

In a large bowl add in 2 cups of flour, 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of instant yeast. Mix around with a fork.  Add in 2 tbsp of oil.  Add in approximately 1 ½ cups of lukewarm water and mix until the water is absorbed, and mixture starts to clump up.  Remove fork and add in roughly ½ – ¾ cup of flour.  Mix with well-washed hands until the flour is all mixed in.  Flour a place on your countertop, take the dough out of the bowl and place on the counter.  Knead and work the dough for 5-10 minutes until it feels ‘elasticky’.  Add more flour to the counter if the dough starts sticking.  The dough is ready when you can poke your finger in the dough and see the dough ‘bounce back’.  Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl.  Cover it with either a plate, soup bowl or plastic wrap.  Place your bowl near a warm spot if possible or perhaps on top of the fridge.  Let the dough rise for 60 -90 minutes until is has doubled in size.

In a metal bowl crack and place 2 eggs.  Add ¼ tsp of salt, 2 tsp of garlic powder, 4 tsp finely chopped green onions and 2 tbsp of dried parsley.  Mix together and add in 5 tbsp of melted butter.  Stir and put aside. Sprinkle flour on the countertop and take dough out of the bowl.  Place on flour and cut into four pieces.  Roll out each section into a tube shape.  Cut each tube into roughly 1-inch sections.  Have a greased Bundt or loaf pan ready.  Dip each dough piece into butter mixture and place in the pan.  After one layer is down, sprinkle some parmesan cheese over the layer and repeat until done.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until dough has doubled in size for 45-60 minutes.  Preheat the over to 350F.  Bake for 30 minutes till golden brown.  Turn over onto a cooling rack, but you probably want to dig in while it’s still warm.  Enjoy!

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