BlueBird
Well-Known Member
It's been cold lately and nothing warms the soul like a delicious home made soup. Specifically, nothing beats the bone chilling cold like my split pea and ham soup, which we always make after doing a boiled ham dinner.
Lets start with the boiled dinner.
I cook a whole ham in a large pot with just enough water to cover the ham. Simmer for about 20 minutes per pound. This year our ham weighed in at 15 pounds! Once the ham reaches an internal temperature of 155 remove it from the pot, cover and set it aside. Add whole potato's, peeled and sliced in half (we used 8), add carrots peeled and sliced in half (we used 10), add some turnip if you like turnip, a whole head of cabbage quartered and cook until the potato's, carrots, turnip and cabbage are all nice and tender. Once everything is cooked slice the ham and add all the vegetables to a large bowl, serve and enjoy. SAVE THE STOCK.
Now for the pea soup.
Add enough water to the stock to reach 1 gallon.
Remove the remaining ham from the bone.
Dice two medium onions
6 Large carrots
8 celery stocks
4 cups of ham
Salt/pepper to taste (I never add salt because the ham is already salty enough)
prepare 32 oz's of split pea's.
Add the ham bone and all the vegetables to the stock and cook thoroughly then add the split peas. I like to chop any left over carrots, cabbage and potato's and add them too. The peas need to simmer for about an hour to get nice and soft so add the diced ham after the peas have been cooking for 45 minutes. Once the peas are soft remove the ham bone. I have a hand held "motorboat" blender that I like to use to puree the soup, but you can just stir it up and enjoy it the way it is. Either way it's simple, delicious and most of all hearty!
One last thing; the stock will have a lot of fat in it from the ham so I like to cool it enough to remove most of the fat from the top before I prepare the soup.
Lets start with the boiled dinner.
I cook a whole ham in a large pot with just enough water to cover the ham. Simmer for about 20 minutes per pound. This year our ham weighed in at 15 pounds! Once the ham reaches an internal temperature of 155 remove it from the pot, cover and set it aside. Add whole potato's, peeled and sliced in half (we used 8), add carrots peeled and sliced in half (we used 10), add some turnip if you like turnip, a whole head of cabbage quartered and cook until the potato's, carrots, turnip and cabbage are all nice and tender. Once everything is cooked slice the ham and add all the vegetables to a large bowl, serve and enjoy. SAVE THE STOCK.
Now for the pea soup.
Add enough water to the stock to reach 1 gallon.
Remove the remaining ham from the bone.
Dice two medium onions
6 Large carrots
8 celery stocks
4 cups of ham
Salt/pepper to taste (I never add salt because the ham is already salty enough)
prepare 32 oz's of split pea's.
Add the ham bone and all the vegetables to the stock and cook thoroughly then add the split peas. I like to chop any left over carrots, cabbage and potato's and add them too. The peas need to simmer for about an hour to get nice and soft so add the diced ham after the peas have been cooking for 45 minutes. Once the peas are soft remove the ham bone. I have a hand held "motorboat" blender that I like to use to puree the soup, but you can just stir it up and enjoy it the way it is. Either way it's simple, delicious and most of all hearty!
One last thing; the stock will have a lot of fat in it from the ham so I like to cool it enough to remove most of the fat from the top before I prepare the soup.
