Pea and Ham Soup
I eat my peas with honey I’ve done it all my life. It makes the peas taste funny But it keeps them on the knife. - anonymous
Well this can’t be said for me, because I am not a pea eater by choice (I think its the texture that gets to me) but I absolutely love this soup. Of course there is not a pea in sight once they have been cooking for a few hours on the stove. My mother in law gave me this recipe years ago, and I have to hand it to her, she could really make a great soup. This soup is thick and full of goodness, typical of the good old days when soup was considered a meal in a bowl.
This soup will take a few hours to cook on the stove, so either make it the day before or get going early in the kitchen. Back in the good old days, she told me it was a cheap soup to make, because it was made with smoked bacon bones, which had very little meat on them, and they were boiled for a long time with the split peas, carrots and potato until every last bit of goodness was out of the bone. I buy smoked pork ribs, so the soup has plenty of meat in it, as the meat falls off the bone after boiling for awhile. I made it in America when I was there but couldn’t find smoked pork ribs, so I opted for smoked gammon chops, which worked just as well. If anyone knows another good alternative, please leave a comment below, I would love to hear from you.
- Rack of smoked pork ribs
- 4-6 carrots grated
- 4 large potatoes grated
- Packet of split peas soaked overnight in water
- salt and pepper to taste
- Soak split peas overnight in water.
- Boil the rack of pork ribs/bacon bones in a ¾ large pot of water for 3 hours or until the meat falls off the bones.
- Take all the meat off the bones and discard bones.
- Add soaked split peas, grated potato and grated carrots.
- Cook for a further 1 - 2 hours.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Add more water to the soup if it is too thick for your liking.
