It's so easy fall for a huge slab of pork at the store only to spend the next week trying to eat through the remains. Fortunately, the pig is designed for all-out deliciousness: Its fat can amp up a delicious borscht, its skin can be tucked into Sicilian Rollups or the meat can be transformed into one heck of a split-pea soup.
Split peas, the anti-heartburn pantry staple, have a very long history that extends well beyond Linda Blair's scary pea-soup spray in "The Exorcist." They're also one of the simplest meals out there to throw together. After the jump is a recipe for a super-easy, super-delicious split-pea soup recipe that just might inspire you to pick up a nice roast ham from the butcher more often. This technique delivers a creamy, rich broth and -- topped here with toasted pine nuts -- is a lime-green harbinger of spring.
Creamy Split Pea Soup
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 ham hock OR a combination of leftover ham (2-3 cups, chopped) and the roasted bone
2 large bay leaves
8 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
Salt, pepper and dried herbs, to taste
1.5 pounds of split peas -- yellow or green
3/4 cup finely chopped celery
3/4 cup finely chopped carrots
1 cup finely chopped onion
1-2 finely chopped shallots
3 cloves minced garlic
Toasted pine nuts (optional)
*Traditionally, smoked ham is used, but a regular nonsmoked ham can be used as well.
Added note: If you roasted a ham over a small pool of water and saved the liquid, pour a little into the soup for added flavor.
- Heat oil in a large stock pot and sauté celery, carrots, onion, shallots and garlic.
- When vegetables have softened, add the ham hock (or bone and ham), bay leaves, chicken stock, water and split peas. (This is when you'd add the reserved liquid, if you have it.)
- Add salt (unless using store-bought stock that already has salt), pepper, and any dried herbs that you love in soup.
- Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 1.5-2 hours.
- If using a hock, the soup is ready when the meat easily falls off the bone. Leave meat in the soup; remove bone and bay leaves. (If not using a hock, simply remove the bone and bay leaves.)
- This is where an immersion blender comes in handy (so you won't have to worry about hot soup exploding out of your blender!). Put hand blender in your soup and blend to desired consistency. In fact, if you have extra ham, you may wish to blend the soup and add extra ham back in to get a great textural mix.
- Toast pine nuts, if desired, to garnish.
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