Pea soup and bannock recipe

I would  like to give heartfelt thanks to the parents and grandparent who came to help warm and serve the pea soup, bannock and maple syrup for our students yesterday.  We have an amazing school community! Our Festival du Voyageur meal could not have happened without you! 

This voyageur heartily recommends the following:

Pea soup

1 pound dried split peas, approximately 2 1/4 cups (I used green split peas.  Sort through and check them as occasionally there are small stones that need to be removed!)

8 cups water

1 large onion, chopped (about one cup)

1 cup finely chopped celery

1 smoked pork hock (I purchased some from Miller's Meats; one ham bone with a bit of meat on it is an alternative)

3 medium carrots

1/4 tsp pepper

salt to taste

Rinse the peas.  Bring peas and 8 cups of water to a boil in a large pot or Dutch oven.  Boil uncovered two minutes; remove from heat.  Cover and let stand for one hour.

Stir in onion, celery and pepper.  Add pork hock/ham bone.  Heat to boiling, then reduce heat and cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until peas are tender.

Remove pork hocks/ham bone.  Remove meat, cutting it in 1/2" pieces.  Stir meat and carrots into soup.   Heat to boiling; reduce heat.  Cover and simmer until carrots are tender and soup is of desired consistency, adding salt to taste.

Bon appétit!  A recipe for bannock is below:

Bannnock with pea soup is a perfect combination!

Bannock

There are many different bannock recipes but I like this one the best.  It makes a small amount of bannock.  

1 cup flour

1 tbsp. lard (or butter)

1tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

Slowly add enough water (about 1/3 cup?) to create a dough, stirring with a fork to make a ball.  Knead dough a bit; form into a flat round about 3/4" thick.  Poke a few times with a fork.  Fry until golden or bake on a slightly greased baking sheet until golden.

Serve with butter (and maple syrup, as we did!) 

Bannock of course is great roasted over the fire. Our family has also roasted weiners over a campfire and then wrapped them with bannock dough, returning them to the fire to roast until the dough is golden.

One of the best hotdogs I ever had was when our family lived in northern Manitoba. Weiners were wrapped in bannock and then deep-fried and served at a birthday party.  This is a great treat to have occasionally!

Much thanks to the staff of our school who showed such great support, creativity and enthusiasm for Festival du Voyageur this past week.  Merci beaucoup!

Stay tuned for more pictures and news from our Festival du Voyageur week.  Please check other teacher's blogs for more pictures and news as well.

Bon Festival du Voyageur!

Mme Christensen