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Split Pea Soup

Posted by Elise on Mar 11, 2006

Filed under Comfort Food, Seasonal Favorites: Winter, Soup and Stew, Wheat-free

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Split pea soup is one of those wonderful hearty soups of winter. Made with dried "split" peas, and cooked up with a flavorful, smokey ham hock, it's warm, filling, and satisfying. This split pea soup recipe is based on one written by Julia Child years ago for a Parade Magazine article. It's a shortened version of the split pea soup recipe in her book, The Way to Cook. Loose instructions for that version are provided at the end of the recipe.

Split Pea Soup

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Ingredients

1 1/2 cups green split peas
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 large leek, chopped
1 large clove of garlic, halved
1 herb bouquet*
1 or 2 well-rinsed ham hocks
Salt and Pepper
Optional garnish - small toasted croutons

*Herb Bouquet: Tie 3 cloves garlic, 4 allspice berries, 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon thyme, 8 sprigs parsley in washed cheesecloth.

Method

1 Pick over the peas and remove any stones. Wash and drain peas. Place in a 4 quart pan with the vegetables, herb bouquet, ham hocks and 2 1/2 quarts of water. Bring to a simmer. Skim the scum off the top of the soup for several minutes, until the scum ceases to rise. Cover loosely and simmer about 1 1/2 hours, or until peas are tender, stirring occasionally in case they stick to the bottom of the pan.

2 Remove bones, and herb bouquet from soup, discard. Either purée through a vegetable mill, or purée in a food processor and then pass through a sieve. Correct seasoning.

3 Reheat, taste again for seasoning. Ladle into warm bowls and garnish with croutons and or sautéed ham.

Makes 2 quarts. Serves 6.

Notes: in Julia's The Way to Cook she uses a slightly different method. In the book's recipe, she first prepares the ham hock stock, with onions, carrots, celery, and an herb bouquet. After simmering the ham hock in 3 quarts of water for three to four hours, she strains the stock. In a separate pan she sautés chopped onion, celery, carrots, and turnips or rutabaga in butter. She then blends in a few tablespoons of flour, cooking for a few minutes, before slowly adding the ham stock. She then adds the split peas and lets cook for 45 minutes. Everything else is the same (skimming, puréeing, etc.)

Indexed: Julia Child, Peas, Soup

8 Comments

What do you mean by split peas?

Thanks!

Posted by: Gabriella on March 17, 2006 10:51 AM

Ah, this is a staple in our house and pretty darned near exactly how we make it (sans celery, and we like a little diced carrot). If you want to boost the umami a bit, replace the water with chicken or vegetable stock.

Want to get fancy? Hit the soup with a stick blender before serving for a smoother texture (I prefer thicker and heartier m'self). Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and some chopped scallion or a few cilantro leaves.

Elise, you rock. Gotta love food like this: cheap, delicious, nutritious and easy to fix.

Posted by: Tom Hammer on March 17, 2006 4:26 PM

Are you sure this recipe calls for 2.5 quarts of water? It's way too watery. Am I supposed to lose a quart or so of water when simmering?

Posted by: Aaron Howard on January 1, 2007 5:26 PM

Hi Gabriella - split peas are dried peas that have been split in half.

Hi Tom - I love it, "boost the umami". Indeed some stock would do the trick, eh?

Hi Aaron - yes, 2 1/2 quarts it is. The dried peas soak up a bunch of it and the resulting soup will be quite thick enough.

Posted by: Elise on January 1, 2007 6:26 PM

I've got my stock simmering now and am anticipating this nice winter, rib-stickin' comfort food this evening.

Found your recipe in a Google search...something I often do for recipes even if I'm already familiar on how to prepare a particular dish.

"Winging it": Instead of the hocks, I'm using pork chops (a rather poor cut) I found on sale at the grocery today. For flavor, I browned them off well before putting them into the stock.

What's it mean when my mouth is watering as I type? :)

Posted by: Joe on January 26, 2007 12:53 PM

I always put in about 1/2 cup of barley in my pea soup. It makes it thicker and more hearty.

Posted by: Lucia Menisxk on February 16, 2009 11:05 AM

Hi Elise,

I was wondering, if I omitted the ham hocks, will it make a differnce in the taste? What would be a good vegetarian substitute?

Thanks,
AZ

Yes, it will make a big difference in the taste. You might try adding some smoked tofu as a vegetarian substitute. ~Elise

Posted by: AZ on July 23, 2009 10:54 PM

Made this last night. 1.5 hours isn't enough time to really get the peas soft and I didn't have it set as low as a simmer. My husband let it cook longer after I went to bed (he stays up later than I do) so I'm not sure how long it cooked altogether, but the peas still weren't soft-squishy when I pulled the pot out of the fridge this morning. Otherwise, it's a really easy recipe.

Sounds like you have a tough batch of split peas. Also note that the older the dried peas, the longer they will take to soften. ~Elise

Posted by: Elizabeth on October 15, 2009 7:41 AM

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Split Pea Soup

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Split Pea Soup