Now it’s true. Split Pea Soup isn’t the prettiest in the soup family, but in my humble opinion, it is the tastiest. While this recipe isn’t “the grail” of split pea soup recipes, it more than makes up for in its easy, straightforward, low-fuss preparation and simple but robust flavour profile.
If there’s one thing that’s going to make or break your split pea soup recipe, it has to be the ham hock. You’re going to absolutely need this ingredient if you’re going to want that smokey, savoury, porky background flavour. If seeing smiles on the faces of your loved ones as you impress them with an almost effortless recipe doesn’t resonate with you, you can choose to forgo this ingredient..
Ingredients
SOUP
- 2 carrots
- 2 celery sticks
- 1 leek*
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 smoked ham hock
- water
- 1 14 oz. bag of green split peas
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tsp dried herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano)
- salt & pepper to taste
- boiling water
- 1-2 Tbsp beef, chicken, or vegetable bouillon
- parsley for garnish
* can substitute for 1 large onion if a leek is too bougie or hard to find
Method
- Chop up carrots, celery, and leek into a rough chop. If you chop too finely, then you’re going to end up with a burnt mess at the end of it all.
- Heat olive oil over medium heat in a dutch oven (or any big soup-making-vessel you own), and sauté carrots, celery and leeks until fragrant and some colour has developed on the bottom of the pot.
- Place ham hock, split green peas, bay leaves, dried herbs in pot.
*feel free to use whichever of these dried herbs you have on hand - Cover with boiling water and add bouillon.
*the bouillon is really meant to enhance the flavour of your soup. If you want something more subtle, go with the veggie. If beef is all you have on hand, go with that. If you have nothing else, yolo and go with water - Season with pepper, and lightly season with salt as the ham hock will be salty.
- Bring to a boil and lower to medium/medium-low to a light simmer. Let simmer for about an hour or until peas have begun to break down
- At this point, your soup is pretty much done! The following steps are all optional and are completely up to you!
Options:
a) Remove ham hock, remove meat, and add back to pot.
b) Smoothen your soup with a hand blender (or you know, a regular blender too…)
Sorry for the lack of other photos, it’s really tricky trying to make split pea soup look appetizing 😅
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