Split Pea Ham Soup

[shanmonster]

I grew up detesting pea soup. I thought it tasted gross and looked worse. However, this year, when I had a big ol' hambone left over from Christmas dinner, I figured I'd give it another go. I'm glad I did, because what I cooked was delicious. I ate two giant bowls of it, and although I'll spare you a description of the aromatic after effects, I want to make this again!

I adapted the recipe from My Paleo Crockpot. (Split peas, btw, are not considered paleo, because cavemen thought peas were gross). Here's how it goes:

6-quart crockpot

-2 cups dried split peas. I used yellow from a local organic farm.
-1 meaty ham bone, 2 ham hocks or 2 cups diced ham
-3 carrots, diced
-1 small onion, diced
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
-1 bay leaf
-dash salt
-dash pepper
-6 cups vegetable bouillon stock

Layer ingredients in the order listed here, pouring the stock over it all at the end.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours. If you used a ham bone, the meat should be falling off easily.

Dig out the bone and bay leaf, and serve it up. OM NOM NOM.

Comments

[ltmurnau.livejournal.com]

This is pretty much my recipe too, except for the parsley.
I make it every time I cook a ham; last time I used whole dried green peas which I soaked overnight first.
I understand if you soak the peas overnight, then discard the soaking water, the "aromatic aftereffects" are much reduced (I've found this soup to be very fibrous though, which is a Good Thing as I get older).

[the-lucky-nun.livejournal.com]

The consistency is what always bothered me. Pea soup seemed and smelled like it had been pre-digested. It was too sticky and thick-tasting. Homemade has got to be better than Campbell's, though.