A Scottish mother's pea and ham soup

Tonight I had the great pleasure of dining at a friend's home and dinner was prepared in, what else, but a slow cooker!

My friend has generously agreed to share her mother's recipe for the delicious pea and ham soup that we enjoyed with a lovely soft loaf of farmhouse-style bread:

- In the morning before work, pop in about two and a half cups of dried green peas and a ham/bacon hock and add enough water to fully cover the ham hock. Leave the slow cooker on, covered, while you are out for the day.

- When you've returned home, remove the hock and the meat should be wonderfully tender and falling off the bone. Chop the meat and return it to the slow cooker.

- Sautée a bunch of chopped shallots in a frying pan and add to the slow cooker.

- Season with salt and keep the soup warm on low until you are ready to serve! Voila!

And, to top this delicious meal off, our lovely and supremely talented hostess served creme brûlée for dessert showing her mastery, not only of the slow cooker, but the blow torch also! Amazing!

Roasted eggplant and lamb stew

A friend tipped me off to this combo of 'smoky eggplant' and lamb, which is served as a soup at one of her favourite weekday lunchtime spots. On a rainy afternoon, I gave it a whirl as a stew, and served with toasted flatbread and hummus, it was delicious.

I brown the diced lamb first and set it aside, covered. I deglazed the pan I used for browning the lamb to make the most of those flavours and added those juices to the slow cooker. I also popped the diced eggplant on a lined baking tray and roasted until softened.

Into the slow cooker went onion, garlic, celery, dried cumin, dried coriander, stock, the browned lamb and the eggplant. I had it on high at first and then low for about 8 hours. Yum!