American

Look at that delicious deep jungle green color.

Recently whenever I’m in the mood for soup I’ve had the tendency to boil some split peas with Trader Joe’s low sodium chicken broth, and 1 1/2 hours later, voila! I first created this “crazy” concoction Thanksgiving 2009. Unfortunately, only three people at dinner tried it, and only one finished his bowl. =( People are always hesitant to try after knowing it’s made from peas.

I personally never had the soup until I decided to try a $1.25 bowl of it at work. And yumm. I’m not the biggest fan of peas or pureed foods, but there’s something about the simplicity of this hearty soup that draws me near.

I decided to dress the soup up a bit for this blog entry by adding in some carrots, onions, garlic, and ham hocks. Oooh fancy ham hocks. I stared at the pork hocks at the grocery store for literally a whole minute wondering why there were no ham hocks until it hit me. Ham = pork. And essentially ham hocks are a nicer way of saying “joint between the tibia/fibula and the metatarsals of the foot, where the foot was attached to the hog’s leg. It is the portion of the leg that is neither part of the ham proper nor the foot or ankle, but rather the extreme shank end of the leg bone and the associated skin, fat, tendons, and muscle.” (Thanks again Wikipedia).

Ingredients:

1 lb green split peas
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 ham hocks
4 packets of Trader Joe’s Chicken Flavor Concentrate
Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

1) Sautee the garlic, carrots, and onions for about 5 minutes to soften up the vegetables.

2) Wash and drain the peas. Place the peas in a 4 quart pan with the sauteed vegetables, ham hock, and 2 1/2 quarts of water. Bring to a simmer.

3) Skim the scum off the top of the soup until the scum ceases to rise. I got some chopped onions as I skimmed, and I ended up rinsing and putting them back into the soup.

4) Cover loosely and simmer about 1 1/2 hours, or until peas are tender, stirring occasionally so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Add more water if necessary to get the desired soup consistency.

5) Remove the ham hock from the soup. I find the soup so well blended at this point that there is no need to further purée with a blender.

7) Add the packets of T&Js Savory Broth Chicken Flavor packets to the soup. Adding freshly cracked pepper at the end adds the perfect zing to the dish.

8) I don’t like to waste food, so cut away the outer skin of the ham hock and dice up the meat.

7) Ladle the split pea soup into bowls and serve immediately with the meat. I also served it with toasted white bread to soak up the soup.

The soup had a slight smokey flavor. Probably from some of the peas sticking to the bottom of the pot when I stirred the soup, but hey, it adds character. =) Next time – cooking my soup with two smoked ham hocks.

What to do with a whole pot of split pea soup? I’ll wager that it will be consumed by moi (and possibly roommates) within two days. Scary.

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