You could make this soup by just following the directions on the back of the package, or you could hearty it up by adding any left over vegetable that you have around. I have even included chopped spinach or lettuce leaves, and the green stems of leeks when making green pea soup. Experiment , it's soup, you can't go wrong. This soup is even better the second day. If it thickens up on you as pea soup has a tendency to do just add some broth to it.
Split Pea & Ham Soup
2 cups dried split peas, soaked for 1 hour in
cold water, then drained
1left over ham bone/or some diced up ham
5 c. water and 2 cups stock (Vegetable)
2 T. butter
1/2 c. salt pork finely chopped OR 1/2 C chopped bacon
1 med. onion chopped
2 ed. carrots chopped
1 potato diced (Optional)
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
salt/pepper
sugar(optional))
Place the ham bone in the water , add the peas, broth , bay leaf and a few pepper corns.
Bring to boil, skim, cover and cook slowly while preparing the following:
melt the butter add the onions and salt pork or the bacon and fry up until they are softened. Add the carrots potatoes thyme and cook for a few minutes. Add this mixture to the peas. Continue cooking all together for at least an hour or until the peas are soft. Remove the ham bone and trim off any pieces of ham or add cubed ham to the soup. Return to simmer and reheat the pea soup. adjust the seasoning. Serve with croutons or a chunk of bread, although this soup is hearty on it's own.
I would love some of this hearty pea soup! I thought that spring was on it's way but it started to snow again today so soup would be perfect!
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