As the saying goes: “The way to a man’s heart, lies through his stomach”, this soup does the trick. Especially on a cold, rainy day when your man comes home and there is a bowl of hot, rich soup waiting for him.
The soup is not hard to make, just takes a bit of time, especially because you don’t need the peas to keep their shape, just the opposite. =)
The flavor is very rich, and the smoked meats add this bit of smoky flavor to it. Hope you will like it.
I am going to describe the way that I did the split pea soup with the peas that I had on hand and pork ribs.
There is a variety of dried “split” peas out there and they might require different cooking times, soaking and so on. The ones that I had on hand only required 30-40 minutes of boiling time. You might need to adjust cooking times for the soup according to the meat and split peas that you have.
Start by boiling the meat (pork ribs):
Place the water into a large saucepan. Add the pork ribs and bring to boil over medium-high heat.
Turn the heat down to medium and cook for about 1 hour.
After the meat has been cooking for about an hour, add the bay leaves, salt and pepper, one peeled whole onion and split peas. Cook for about 20 minutes.
Take out the meat from the boiling broth and set aside to cool down.
Prepare the vegetables:
In the meantime, peel and chop the potatoes into small cubes. Peel and grate the carrots. Peel and chop the second onion.
Add the potatoes to the pot with the soup and cook for about 10 minutes.
In a frying pan heat up a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add carrots and onions and fry for a couple of minutes.
When the potatoes have been cooking for about 10 minutes add the fried carrots and onion and cook for another 10 minutes.
Remove and discard the bones from the meat. Cut the meat into cubes. Set aside.
If you are using smoked meats, then just chop them into pieces and set aside. If you are using bacon, cut it into strips and fry a little bit on a frying pan.
Once the potatoes are cooked through, the soup is done. Taste for salt and pepper, add more if required.
The peas would incorporate into the soup, they will almost disappear (if they are without skins. If with skins there will be bits of skins in the soup, but nothing to worry about, still delicious) and add this nice fullness to the soup, kind of like a puree.
Serve in a deep bowl, garnished with cubed pork meat and cut smoked meats (fried bacon) and buttered toast.
The soup can be served right away, but for an even better result, let it stand for 2-3 hours, or even overnight. The soup will become richer in flavor and more uniform.
Enjoy!
Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 500 grams pork ribs
- 3 – 4 liters water
- 2 onions
- 4 medium potatoes
- 2 medium carrots
- 2 bay leaves
- 200 grams smoked pork meat, or bacon
- 250 grams dries peas (preferably without skins)
- salt, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Place the water into a large saucepan. Add the pork ribs and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Turn the heat down to medium and cook for about 1 hour.
- After the meat (with or without peas) have been cooking for about an hour, add the bay leaves, salt and pepper and one peeled onion and dried peas. Cook for about 20 minutes.
- Take out the meat from the boiling broth and set aside to cool down.
- In the meantime, peel and chop the potatoes into small cubes.Peel and shred the carrots.Peel and chop the second onion.
- Add the potatoes to the pot with the meat and cook for about 10 minutes.
- In a frying pan heat up a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add carrots and onions and fry for a couple of minutes. When the potatoes have been cooking for about 10 minutes add the fried carrots and onion and cook for another 10 minutes.
- Remove and discard the bones from the meat. Cut the meat into cubes. Set aside.
- If you are using smoked meats, then just chop them into pieces and set aside. If you are using bacon, cut it into strips and fry a little bit on a frying pan.
- Once the potatoes are cooked through, the soup is done. Taste for salt and pepper, add more if required.The peas would incorporate into the soup, the will disappear (if they are without skins) and add this nice fullness to the soup, kind of like a puree.
- Serve in a deep bowl, garnished with cubed pork meat and smoked meats (fried bacon) and buttered toast.
- The soup can be served right away, but for an even better result, let it stand for 2-3 hours, or even overnight. The soup will become richer in flavor and more uniform.
- Enjoy!
