2017-1-28 - Pea Soup with Ham (45 min. prep to eat) (approx. 3 qts) (forgot to take pic on completion, again, dagnabit)

.
Ingredients:
===========

2-4 tbsp bacon grease (for this recipe I used 3 tbsp because the ham had quite a bit of fat on it)
1 lb ham cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 sweet onion cut in 1" chunks (sweet onion is a personal preference - if using regular onions, adjust the quantity)
-------------
7 cups water
1 lb green split peas
3 carrots peeled and cut in 2" pieces
1 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt (increase to at least 2 tsp. next time)
1 tbsp parsley
1/2 tsp garlic
3-4 bay leaves (they sure are small these days)
2 dashes thyme but no more than 1/8 tsp.
-------------
manual, high, 20 min, partial quick release
-------------

Directions:
==========

Pot on sautee, when hot add bacon grease, when melted and sizzling add ham and onion. Stir every so often while allowing ham to brown a bit. Be careful, the neighbors may come visit on account of the wonderful smell.

When ham is ready add the peas and other seasonings, give it all a quick stir to mix a bit and pour water over top.

Put the lid on the pot and remember to set valve on "Sealing".

Do I really need to add that the bay leaves should be removed before serving? Well, if you can find them in the pea soup. I need to look for one of those things with holes in it that you can fill with whatever, toss in the pot, and then fish out easily with a spoon.

Notes:
=====

End result: Oh my goodness! I was really, really, missing a buttered Portuguese wheat roll to go with this! Am pleased with the amount of soup, even if not as much as the soup pot. Considering it's so simple to make (not having to stand and stir) I don't mind. The soup was creamy and a good consistency for eating right away. It thickened nicely cooling down and was as thick as I'm accustomed to having when chilled in the fridge. This time around I didn't add enough salt. A bit more prior to eating made all the difference in the world. May experiment with a bit of spicy heat, too, another time - some crushed red peppers or similar. I can hardly believe that I made in 45 min. total a soup that would normally take 4 hours simmering on stove top to get to where I want it.

Ham bone: Had a devil of a time trying to decide whether or not to add the ham bone. There is the question of adding to the mass. A ham bone is sizeable and would have reduced the amount of water I could add and that would have resulted in less soup. Since this isn't my favorite soup pot and I'm already halving the recipe, I don't intend to take up precious space for the bone. I'll use ham instead. I expect to make ham stock with the bone another time, freeze it, and use it for the lentils.

Bacon grease: Use your favorite oil instead, if that's your thing. So far I haven't had any accidents with food getting sucked up into the valve. The fat helps keep the peas from foaming too much under pressure.

Carrots: Done! I like a lot of carrot in my pea soup, so next time I might add even more.

Partial quick release: There's no such thing but it's what I do and what I call it. When the pot is done cooking I pull the plug and wait a couple of minutes. Then for another 2-3 minutes, every 5 seconds or so I jiggle the valve for a second to release some steam. At the end of two or three minutes I finish off with a quick release. QUICK RELEASE IS SOMETHING YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO WITH FOODS THAT FOAM according to the Instant Pot folks, but you know me - experiment, experiment. The reason you're not supposed to do it is because something like pea soup or oatmeal gets very foamy in a pressure cooker. Everything I've read anywhere says that a quick release will suck the contents out of the valve. This can make for a messy kitchen. Since I did my homework before making the dish I got "lucky" once again ;o).

Other Settings: I did my research. I picked 7 or 8 pea soup recipes for their discussion about why they picked this or that setting. People reported good results with whatever it is that they chose. Some used "soup", or "stew", or a combination of those in conjunction with low or high pressure. That seems unneccessarily complicated to me. I look for the simplest and quickest way to get the job done. That's why, as a beginner to electric pressure cooking, I chose the quantity of my main ingredients (ham, peas, water) thoughtfully. The end result was worth it.

Quantity before cooking: The amount of liquid in the pot was within the limits for this pea soup (slighty above 8, if I remember right, and well under the 10 mark). (note: must always take foaming into consideration and use fat of some type)

Quantity in the pot/foaming after cooking: According to the "foam line" around the pot, I still had about 1-1/2" room to the top. In other words, the pot was perfectly clean for that 1-1/2". I might be able to get away with using 8 cups of water next time as long as I'm as careful as I was with the foaming this time, very careful. Also, it needs to be remembered that if, for example, I increase the amount of ham to, say, 3 cups, I can't still add 7 cups of water or risk overflow.

Maybe these notes would have been overkill when I was younger but, my memory isn't what it used to be.

Valve/gasket cleaning: You're supposed to clean the valve and wash the sealing ring every time you use it. Since I've seen nothing but water and haven't yet seen anything even resembling one drop of food on the inside of the lid or on the ring, I haven't cleaned, or attempted to wash/clean either of them. I shake the water off the lid, check the valve and ring and set it on the stove top to dry. The pot (liner) mostly rinses clean and it's easy to wash by hand or toss in the dishwasher. I suppose at some point I'll attempt to take the valve apart to clean just so I know how to do it, but not today.