Split Pea and Ham Hock Soup

Okay, so this isn’t as fancy as it is comforting. Just some good-tasting pea soup like the kind your mom used to make. I am pretty sure my mom never made pea soup and I think I hated it actually…but I didn’t really like most food back then anyway. My mom used to say that I ate like a bird. I like to think that my palette was just too advanced for my age.

I remember a story about pea soup my grandmother told to me shortly before she passed away. The story started with her telling me how much my Opah (the name we called my grandfather) loved pea soup. It was his favorite and she would make it for him every so often. One day my grandmother cooked up a big pot of it - as a special little surprise for him. I don’t remember her telling me what exactly happened, but they had an argument about something. My grandmother had stopped arguing, grabbed the pot of pea soup and dumped the entire batch right into the kitchen sink…leaving Opah with just a blank look on his face. And no pea soup. Wasteful? Yes. Did it get her point across? I would bet money on it.

When I was younger, I only remember pea soup as looking like a green, gelatinous, quivering clone of the can it plopped out of. To this day I probably wouldn’t eat canned pea soup but at least I have detached the stigma and can now appreciate split pea soup. I really crave a nice homemade bowl of pea soup when fall comes. Something about the muting color tones of the trees and the grey afternoons makes me want comfort foods. This is definitely one that fits the bill. This recipe is from Emeril Lagasse, and as usual, I changed a few things about it to suit my tastebuds. If you would like to follow Emeril’s recipe, you can check out his site for the original recipe. Oh and make sure to read through my recipe before making it. I throw in some comments and hints for you as I go along. One last thing… this will register a little high on the Methane Meter, since you are using bacon fat to saute the vegetables in - but it adds some amazing flavor so I wouldn’t try to substitute…enjoy! Phhhrrt!

Split Pea and Ham Hock Soup

• 4 ounces bacon, diced small
• 1 cup small diced onions
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 1/2 cup carrots diced small
• 1/2 cup celery diced small
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 1 pound of split peas
• 1 ham hock (6 ounces)
• 1 cup of ham steak diced into small cubes (use more if you want a lot of ham)
• Heavy cream
• Fresh black pepper to taste

In a stock pot, render the bacon until crispy, remove the bacon leaving the fat (you won’t be using the cooked bacon so pack it up flip it rub it down oh no!). Saute the onions, shallots, carrots, celery and garlic, for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the stock, peas and ham hock. Bring to a fast boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 1 hour or until the peas are tender. Remove the ham hock and dice the meat. Set aside. Whisk in small amounts of the heavy cream (not too much!) to prevent from breaking and simmer for 2 minutes. With a hand held blender puree the soup until smooth. Listen up! Since I don’t have a fancy hand held immersion blender (its on H’s list for me for Christmas though so no worries!) I skipped this step and just left the soup chunky. I didn’t mind it a bit chunky and you probably won’t either…So if you don’t have an immersion blender, its not too big of a deal to just leave it as-is. However, if you are feeling ambitious enough you can puree batches of it in your food processor or blender. Season with pepper (no salt here it is salty enough). Add the diced ham hock and ham steak. Eat it up yum.

And for a funny image that H took of me while I was making this, you can click here.

(click on images to enlarge)

The original recipe can be found at Emeril Lagasse’s Web site.

Methane Meter says “Eat it in good and forgiving company”.

Rating :

Download or print recipe here:
Split Pea and Ham Hock Soup Recipe  (PDF 17.1 kb)