Fabulous Easy Split Pea Soup With Ham

FABULOUS EASY SPLIT PEA SOUP WITH HAM

     Carving a hearty, healthy good soup? You know one of those “stick to your ribs” soup.

This is a fast and easy soup to put together. It will take an hour to simmer and needs a bit of stirring occasionally, but even the worst cook can’t ruin this simple recipe.  Remember we use SPLIT DRIED peas in this, not fresh peas (that is another recipe).  Back about 500-400 BC, the Romans and Greeks cultivated this legume.  The mention of pea soup being served in the streets of Athens has been found through-out history dating that far back.

1 Package dried split peas

1 onion diced in small pieces

3-4 garlic cloves minced finely

2 medium carrots shredded

1 ½-2 cups chopped finely ham sliced/pieces

¼ cup olive oil

10-12 cups chicken or vegetable broth (ready label on the package as different makes require different  Amounts of liquid

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon coarse salt

Lots of pepper to taste

Heat the oil and sauté the onion and garlic for about 4 minutes.  Add the Carrots and heat for another 2 minutes. Add everything else and simmer for one hour until the peas get mushy and all the soup has thickened nicely. Stir frequently.

Tips:

·        It is best to put the whole Ham bone with meat around the bone, in the soup, verses the diced ham pieces.  The above recipe can make things easier for you when you have leftover ham, ham steak or even thickly sliced pieces from the deli!

·        We even drizzle more olive oil on the top just before serving.

·        Oyster crackers, crackers, a slice of crusty bread or croutons are great to serve with your bowl.

·        Make sure you remove the Bay leaves before serving.

·        The carrots add sweetness and the good amount of olive oil offers the right amount of fat and smooth rich taste.

As always be your own Creative Dump Cook and change this recipe to what YOU have on hand!