Potato's and split peas mix up

The other evening I found myself with a bit of a predicament. We were going away the next day to our beach house for the weekend so there wasn’t much food left in the pantry.

I had been looking through a cook book earlier and found a recipe that I liked the look of but had hardly any of the ingredients, so I decided to have a go at it with what I had around. 

  

I had read the recipe and thought it said that it had chickpeas in it. I didn’t have chickpeas because I had used them in the hummus but I had some split peas laying around so I thought that they would work. 

Later on when I looked back at the recipe it didn’t even need chickpeas but oh well it was meant to be. This dish worked out really well. It took a bit longer than I thought it would take, because the potato’s took for ever to cook but I endeavored and the effort was well worth it.

The combination worked well with the slight hint of chili worked into the potato’s and the split peas adding a hearty feel to the dish, adding a different texture other than the starchiness from the baby potato’s. It was also coated in a lovely rich tomato sauce that carried the chili’s in it’s body.

Recipe

1 1/2 cups soaked split peas, green or yellow or both 

2 onions, finely sliced 

1 stick of celery, finely sliced 

3 gloves, crushed and diced 

600 g baby potato’s, washed and quartered 

1 tsp chili flakes

2 tsp olive oil

2 jars tomato sauce 

Heat olive oil in a large sauce pan or deep frying pan, once the oil is hot add in the prepared onions, celery and garlic and cook until the onions are translucent and the celery is soft.

Then add in the potato’s and mix through for about 5 minutes. Then add in the chili flakes and tomato sauce , stir until all the ingredients are coated in the sauce. Now add in the soaked peas and mix in.

 Bring to a simmer and stir frequently for 10 minutes. Then turn the stove down to low and cover the pan, remembering to stir it every now and then until the potato’s become soft. This may take as long as half and hour. 

Once the potato’s are soft place them into a lined roasting dish and bake in a hot oven for 20 minutes or until the top of the dish is slightly crisped.Serve up with some fresh bread and hummus or it also goes well with rice.

I also roasted some cheery tomato's to go with this dish by sprinkling them with balsamic and placing them in the hot oven with the potato's and split peas and they were ready at the same time as it .

 

Enjoy