Souper Bowl

I don’t think I’ve ever watched the Super Bowl, and I spent Sunday not watching TV, and instead making soup, and enjoying my idea of a souper bowl; split pea soup. Split pea soup is one of those soups that is perfect for a winter’s day, and if you make a large batch (and it seems no matter what my plan is I always do) it freezes well which is good because I ended up with almost a half-gallon of soup. If you watched the game, I hope you enjoyed it, and your team won.

I’ve been meaning to make split pea for a while, but it has been challenging finding ham hocks, or smoked neck bones which is what I finally found. Pea soup is a fine vegetarian soup, but I wanted that smokiness the ham bones gave it. I have definite opinions about what does or doesn’t go into pea soup. Potatoes are a must, as are celery and onions. I am often torn about adding carrots to pea soup; if you puree it the carrots make the soup an unpleasant color, so when I use them I don’t puree it. When I got my veggies out of the fridge my celery looked sad, and unappealing, so I gave it a quick refresh by cutting off the bottom and putting the stalks into a glass of cold water; they revived enough for soup.

I’m always surprised by the popularity of split pea, but people generally love it, and making it is so easy. You could make this as simple as you like, just using onions, potatoes, peas and stock, or a little fancier, omitting the carrots, pureeing it, and finishing it with a splash of sherry, and a swirl of cream. No matter how you make it, I promise homemade split pea soup is better than any canned soup you’ll buy. It’s the prefect choice for a souper bowl.

Smokey Split Pea Soup

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Serves	8-10
Prep time	30 minutes
Cook time	1 hour
Total time	1 hour, 30 minutes
Meal type	Lunch, Soup
Misc	Child Friendly, Freezable, Serve Hot

Ingredients

• 1 Large Spanish onion (diced)
• 4 Large carrots (peeled and chopped)
• 2 Large Idaho potatoes (peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes)
• 3-4 celery stalks (chopped)
• 1lb smoked ham hocks (or smoked pork neck bones)
• 6 cups chicken stock
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1lb split peas

Directions

Step 1

Heat oil over medium heat in a large stockpot until it is shimmering Add onions, carrots and celery, stir to coat vegetables with oil, then lower heat, and sweat vegetables for five minutes, stirring often

Step 2

Add the stock and raise heat to medium high Add potatoes and peas, and stir well Bring soup to just bubbling, then lower heat to a simmer and add ham hocks or neck bones Cover soup and let simmer one hour, stirring every ten to fifteen minutes to keep peas to sticking to bottom of the pot and burning

Step 3

The soup is done when the peas have dissolved into the liquid Remove the ham bones Add salt and pepper to taste

Step 4

Let the ham cool enough to handle, then pull the meat from the bones, chop it and return it to the soup.