The ultimate comfort food!
Split pea soup used to be a hearty classic, but it seems to have been overshadowed by more trendy dishes. You don't see it much in restaurants or home kitchens anymore.
But I'm bringing it back, and this recipe will do the trick.
The two most important things are the quality of the smoked ham and the richness of the chicken stock.
No homemade stock on hand? Don’t worry. While there may not be any perfect replacements from the store, you don't have to settle for just water. Use the best boxed or canned chicken stock you can find (don’t go for the cheap stuff), and consider adding a spoonful of "Better than Bouillon" chicken base. Then, to enhance the texture, stir in some unflavored powdered gelatin—about 1 teaspoon per cup of stock (4 tsp per quart). It’s affordable, easy, and really works wonders.
But I'm bringing it back, and this recipe will do the trick.
The two most important things are the quality of the smoked ham and the richness of the chicken stock.
No homemade stock on hand? Don’t worry. While there may not be any perfect replacements from the store, you don't have to settle for just water. Use the best boxed or canned chicken stock you can find (don’t go for the cheap stuff), and consider adding a spoonful of "Better than Bouillon" chicken base. Then, to enhance the texture, stir in some unflavored powdered gelatin—about 1 teaspoon per cup of stock (4 tsp per quart). It’s affordable, easy, and really works wonders.
Servings |
batch
|
Ingredients
- 16 ounces dried green split peas — Normally come in a 16oz bag.
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 Smoked Ham Hocks — Readily available in the grocery store, but extra points if you smoke your own!
- 2 cups diced smoked ham — Farmland brand "Smoked Spiral Ham Slices & Pieces" are PERFECT. (diced meat is just under 1/2 lb per cup)
- 1 tsp Black peppercorns — More if you know your audience will enjoy it - but DEFINITELY not more than double. Lightly crushed, or ground as coarsely as possible. Some folks enjoy leaving them whole.
- 1/2 cup chopped onion — (Part 1 of the mirepoix trinity)
- 1 cup sliced carrots — (Part 2 of the mirepoix trinity)
- 2 sliced ribs of celery plus leaves — (Part 3 of the mirepoix trinity). It's fine to mix the three together and add to the pot.
- 2 cloves minced garlic — Feel free to double this if your audience will not object.
- 6 cups chicken stock — or water. But home-made chicken stock really makes this "pop".
- 2 tsp seasoned salt (e.g. Lawry's) — Presumes unsalted stock. Salt is tricky here because the saltiness of the hocks and smoked ham and stock can be quite variable. Strongly recommend you err on the side of too little added salt. After cooking, check and add more "to taste" only if needed.
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley — Added near end of cook
- Optional flavored croutons — serve on the side, or toss a few on top just before serving.
Ingredients
|
|
Instructions
Prepare & Cook
- Dice any meat chunks that are bigger than you want in your bowl (but leave the ham hocks whole for now).
- Rinse the peas thoroughly in a colander. Check carefully for foreign objects.
- Dissolve the seasoned salt into the stock and set aside.
- Layer ingredients (except parsley) in slow cooker IN THE ORDER LISTED in the ingredient list (important!). NOTE: feel free to treat the mirepoix (onion, celery, carrot) as one ingredient.
- Pour stock over the whole thing. If choosing the longer cook at the lower temp setting, consider heating up the stock first — which will reduce the time the ingredients spend below cooking temp, and could knock an hour or so off the cook time.
- Cover and cook on high 4 to 5 hours, or on low 8 to 10 hours. DO NOT STIR FOR THE FIRST 2 HOURS.
- Leave alone for two hours, stir to mix the ingredients. Then mix once an hour. When mixing, if you have a full cooker, to avoid a mess it is might be best to remove the hocks, mix, then nestle the hocks back deeply into the soup. The last couple of hours you must be very gentle with them so they don't fall apart and leave small bone bits in the soup. Or you could first encase them in muslin bags to avoid that risk. If inconvenient to stir hourly it's not a big deal — but the first mix around the 2-hour mark, and the final mix after the parsley is added are important.
- From this point forward, keep an eye out for the bay leaves. Whenever you see one pluck it out and discard it.
- Gently remove the hocks and set aside to cool. Careful, they will be fall-apart loose. I use tongs in one hand to hold them, and a big kitchen spoon or something underneath to support the weight and hold them together while removing.
- Stir in the parsley, wait ≈ 15 minutes then unplug the cooker.
Finish & Serve
- The soup looks a little thin at first, but have faith. It thickens A LOT as it cools, and has great body. Unless you already got them all, poke around to find and remove any remaining bay leaves.
- When the hocks have cooled just enough to handle, hand-pull them to separate the meat. Discard everything but the meat. Dice or shred the meat and mix it back into the pot.
- Serve garnished with croutons, or maybe some hearty tearing-bread on the side. Store-bought croutons can be pretty good, but if you're feeling adventurous...
Recipe Notes
A batch and a half fits nicely into a 7qt slow-cooker (large). A double batch will fit a 10qt cooker (huge). And a single batch will fit a 5qt cooker, but 4qt will be not quite enough.
Freezes great, either in ziplock bags with the air expelled, or in "freezer safe" canning jars. Leave an inch of headspace for expansion.
View online at KillerNoms.com/splitpea
Share this Recipe
Powered by WP Ultimate Recipe