A delicious and hearty soup made dried green split peas, ham or hocks, and seasoned with thyme, allspice, and bay leaves. Using a leftover, meaty ham bone from the holidays makes this soup perfect for serving on New Year’s Day. If you don’t have leftover ham, simply substitute ham hocks to add a smoky flavour. Don’t use leftover ham that has been cooked or basted with anything sweet like honey, maple or brown sugar as it adds an unpleasant flavour to the soup.
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Serves: 8
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry green split peas
- 2 quarts water
- 1 meaty ham bone, or 3 ham hocks, rinsed
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
- 2 bay leaves
- dash pepper
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 cup chopped carrot
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Instructions
- Pick over the peas and remove any stones. Wash and drain peas.
- In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, cover dried peas with 2 quarts of water. Bring split peas to a boil; boil gently for 2 minutes. Set aside to soak for 1 hour. Add ham bone or ham hocks, chopped onion, garlic powder, marjoram, thyme, bay leaves and pepper. Bring split pea soup to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Remove ham bone or ham hocks from soup. If using ham bone, remove meat from bone; dice and return to pea soup with chopped celery and carrot. If using ham hocks – cut away the outer skin and remove the meat from the bones and return meat to soup with celery and carrots.
- Simmer split pea soup slowly for an additional 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste the soup and add salt as desired.
- Serve with crusty bread or toasted croutons.
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