Split Peas with Bacon and Onion (not soup); A Good Day…

Split Peas with Bacon and Ham

Karmic balance has been restored in my life.

After a, somewhat less than perfect day, yesterday. this one started out good and kept getting better.

First, our house's internal workings were given a clean bill of health:
    The septic tank was pumped and power-scrubbed, getting rid of 50+ years of accumulated detritus, as were all the pipes leading into it.
    The 'kitchen' tank (yes, separate) was pumped again, and power-scrubbed as were all of it's pipes.

Everything is flowing freely.

As he was leaving the phone rang…..

Are  you sitting down?

We're getting our television satellite dish hooked up on Saturday morning.  We've not watched the telly since the end of September, thus missing all of the hoopla over the presidential election in the US.

On the one hand, it's been rather pleasant… I miss the morning news over breakfast, sort of….

On the other hand, our few DVD's and video's are sadly worn and have been watched so many times we can carry on the dialogue without sound.

Next mon mari took a break from a task he LOVES (wood-working, he's started my kitchen cabinets) to track down some chicken wire to mend the gaps in the fence around the garden.  The girl-dogs can now lay in the sunshine, surveying their new dogdom.

Oh yes, mon mari has started my kitchen cabinets...

To top this near-perfect day off, late this afternoon the 'secrétaire de la mairie' phoned to tell us that our Carte de Séjour had, finally, after almost 4 months of total silence, appeared.  We are, once again, legal.
(I was getting worried, we had never received the 'récépissé', (receipt) acknowledging our request, which we usually have in hand within a week of applying, and the whole process should be less than 2 months).

This day has been so good, in fact, that I'm a little worried about tomorrow….

But not so worried that I forgot the deadline for this edition of My Legume Love Affair!

This event, celebrating all that is wonderful in beans, peas, lentils, pulses and peanuts, was started by The Well-Seasoned Cook, who also happens to be the host this helping.  She'll have the round-up of all the wonderful recipes the first week in March.

When we first moved into Vlad's house I made soup.

Lots and lots of soup.

I found myself with half of a box of split peas a few weeks ago, when we were getting ready to move to our house.

Mon mari, not a big soup fan to start, was less than enthusiastic about, yet another, pot.

I've only ever eaten split peas in soup, or in a very thick stew with sausage.

But, they were peas, after all.  And peas are a vegetable, aren't they?

I made them as a vegetable side dish.

They were wonderful…

And easy.

They cook almost as fast as lentils, and, like lentils, don't require soaking.

I'm a little vague on the amount of water – it would depend on the age of the peas and how you like them.  I had nothing to base this on, so I started with 1 1/2 cups of water, and, as they got close to being done, added a few tablespoons more, now and again, until they were cooked and I had the consistency I wanted.  Naturally, I didn't keep track…

Split Peas with Onion and Bacon

8oz (500gr) split peas, about 1 cup
1 medium onion
3oz (90gr) bacon, 3 – 4 strips
2 – 2 1/2 cups water
1 tsp thyme

Sort through peas and rinse.  Chop onion. Cut bacon into small matchsticks. 
In a medium saucepan, sauté bacon until just starting to get crisp.  Add onion and sauté until transparent.  Add 1 1/2 cups water and scrape the bottom of the pan.  Add the peas and thyme, reduce heat, cover and simmer, 30 – 45 minutes. 
Watch them closely after 25 minutes, stir often and keep the heat low.  Add water, a little at a time until they are cooked through.  They should just start to fall apart, which is the sign that they are done.

This made rather a lot for 2 people as a vegetable side dish…

The next night we finished them off on some brown rice

Aren't we just healthy, though?