Eat It With Your Face

When the weather is dreary as it’s been in Sydney lately, I always feel like something warm and hearty. Comfort food. Growing up, my momma would always make us delicious soupy things in winter like chicken and dumplings and split pea soup with ham. Tonight, I decided to make the latter.

I used bacon bones to provide flavor and a bit of meat. I love that I live in a universe where these are a thing! If you can’t find bacon bones, a ham hock will do nicely, as will any other smoked, meaty pork bone. Of course, if you’re veg*n or don’t eat pork, you can leave it out - you might need to add a bit of salt and/or more herbs to compensate for the lost flavor, and definitely use stock for at least some of the liquid instead of water.

This recipe is extremely rough. It can change drastically. The only necessities are split peas and water - everything else is up to your discretion!

Split Pea Soup

Ingredients:

500g (about 1 lb) split peas - green or yellow, take your pick
3 bacon bones or 1 meaty ham hock
2 stalks celery, chopped (including leaves)
2-3 carrots, diced (depending on size)
1 large potato, cubed
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
Olive oil
2 bay leaves
3t herbes de provence (or other herbs and spices as desired)
9-10 cups of a combination of chicken or vegetable stock, white wine and water (I used approx. 4 cups chicken stock, 1 cup white wine and 4 cups water, plus more water as needed)

1. Wash your peas and pick over, checking for stones. If you’re a perfectionist like *ahem* some of us, don’t spend forever removing any stray hulls or discolored peas - we’re mostly looking for rocks here, people.
2. Heat some olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic until the onion is slightly transparent.
3. Add the vegetables. Stir to coat in oil and saute until the celery leaves start to wilt.
4. Add the peas and liquid.
5. Add the bacon bones or ham hock, being sure that they are submerged in the liquid.



Pic taken before I realized I hadn’t added enough liquid!

6. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook for about an hour and a half, stirring occasionally and adding liquid (get it hot first - I use the kettle) until the peas are soft.
7. Remove the bones from the soup. If you like a smoother soup, you can blend some of it now - I like mine chunky, so I don’t bother. Get as much meat off of the bones as you can and add it back to the pot.
8. Turn off the heat and serve!

I recommend eating this with a nice crusty bread. Or on its own. That works, too.

Note on the wine: If you’re like me and can never finish a bottle of wine but like to cook with it, I recommend buying the tiny little airplane-sized bottles of wine to cook with. You may get a funny look at the check-out, but it’s better than wasting booze.

Aww, chibi wine!