Recipe
Split Pea and Ham Bone Soup
The patient reward at the end of a good ham dinner. Split peas thicken into a rustic, rib-sticking soup that tastes even better the next day, and it finds a use for the bone you were about to throw out. Low effort, most of it just time on the stove.
Ingredients
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper plus more to taste¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper plus more to taste
- 1 ¼ cups diced carrots (1 large carrot)1 ¼ cups diced carrots (1 large carrot)
- 6 cupfinely chopped celery, about 2 medium celery stalks
- 61 left over ham bone
- 61 onion, chopped
- Salt to tasteSalt to taste
- 48 cupswater
- 12 cupsyellow dried split peas, sorted and rinsed
Instructions
- In a soup pot, combine together the split peas and water. Bring the mixture to a boil.
- Remove from the heat. Cover and let stand for 1 hour.
- After an hour, return the pot to the heat.
- Add the onion, celery, pepper and ham bone, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook, stirring occasionally for 40 minutes or until the split peas are tender.
- Remove the ham bone from the soup and pull off meat from the bone. Return the meat to the soup and discard the bone.
- Add the carrots and cook for 20 minutes or until the carrots are tender and soup has thickens. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook's notes
- Sort the dried peas and rinse them — a stray pebble is the one surprise this soup does not need.
- Stir occasionally as it cooks; split peas like to settle on the bottom.
- Leftovers thicken in the fridge, so loosen them with a splash of water or stock when you reheat.
Recipe questions
- No ham bone — can I still make it?
- Yes, use a smoked ham hock instead, or simmer with a cup of chopped leftover ham and a little extra salt.
- How long does it keep?
- About four days in the fridge and three months in the freezer. Portion it into containers before freezing so you can pull out single servings.
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