The PM /AM I attempted to make Split Pea soup

Today for so long I have wanted to pick up the courage to try for a second time to make split peas soup. My Gran makes the smoothest soup without a blender and within a relatively short space of time – no more than 2hrs. The last time I made this soup it turned out like the consistency of a crunchy peanut butter. So this time I soaked the yellow split peas overnight and began the process of boiling it down, adding water each time to make sure the peas didn’t dry down. I never really watch the fire so returned after 2 hours to find little progress – the peas hadn’t even split.

So after 4 hours I called my Gran for some much needed advice: throw in some baking powder to make them split quickly she says. So here I am at 5pm throwing in a little of the magic stuff hoping for a miracle. Unfortunately even after 8 hours the peas had not split. The odd thing is even though I was aware that the peas had lost all flavour I was just determined to see them crack, I mean it shouldn’t have been that hard considering I made split peas and rice once with the same packet. Anyways by 1am I started to drift into not really caring and just ignored my pot, hoping it would somehow miracley mash. So I smelt burning, went into the kitchen and saw a crunchy hot mess in front of my eyes, which swiftly went into the bin. Needless to say I was disappointed and am convinced if I had my Gran’s trusty cast iron dutch pot the outcome may have been better.

The following day I decided to use the dough I made for the dumplings to make a pizza base (first time and not really caring how it turned out). Here are some pics before and after – it turned out O.K. but needed more cheese: