Split pea soup was never, and I say NEVER, on my mile long list of recipes to try. I guess it never appealed to me. However, in the depths of winter, I’ll do anything to get warm. And that means making myself look super attractive (please sense my sarcasm) by wearing layers upon layers of clothes around the house and looking like a homeless man. Not homeless woman, but a homeless man. What a lucky husband I have. But also to get warm, soup is my savior.
So I was flipping through my favorite new cookbook, The Complete America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook and came across the recipe for ham and split pea soup (please note I was probably shivering at the time) and decided it will be made for dinner! Before I tell you about the soup, I have to tell you how amazing this cookbook is.
America’s Test Kitchen is culinary nirvana for those who are in the know. Any recipe that they create, you know it’s going to have been tested a-gajillion times and therefore the best possible version of the dish. If you want to say, make Classic French Onion Soup, flip to page 314 and you know it’s going to be the most tried and true recipe on planet Earth. So when in doubt, trust America’s Test Kitchen and stop rifling through your old cookbooks for a so-so recipe. Because this cookbook? This cookbook is the Bible of all cookbooks. There I said it. And I feel better already.
Oh and one more thing about the cookbook: before each recipe they have a little paragraph titled, “Why this recipe works” . Genius! Seriously. They will give you a quick lesson as to how the recipe came about and what they did in the test kitchen to make the recipe so effing kick ass. Okay, I’m getting pretty fired up here, I think I need to calm down.
So onto the soup, here’s what I did:
2 T unsalted butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
7 cups of water
1 lb. ham steak, skin removed, cut into quarters
3 sliced thick cut bacon (I used 4 sliced regular bacon)
1 lb. (2 cups) green split peas
2 sprigs fresh thyme (I couldn’t find any, so I used one tablespoon dried)
2 bay leaves
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 celery rib, diced
Heat the butter in a dutch oven over medium high heat and add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook for about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute more.
Add the water, ham, bacon, peas, thyme and bay leaves and increase the heat to high until it comes up to a simmer, cover and then reduce the heat to low for 45 minutes.
(Revolting picture above, I know…bear with me) After 45 minutes, remove the ham and wrap in aluminum foil and set aside. This prevents the ham from drying out. Stir in the carrots and celery, cover and simmer for 30 minutes more.
Once the 30 minutes are up, the soup should be nice and thick at this point. Remove the thyme, bay and bacon slices. Shred the ham and place back into the soup and stir with the addition of pepper and salt to taste. Bring back to a simmer and you’re ready to serve.
The Test Kitchen suggests drizzling with balsamic vinegar, tossing some defrosted fresh peas and some chopped fresh mint on top. I did neither of these things, yet I was stunned at the outcome. There was such depth of flavor because of the smokey bacon, but no greasy bacon chunks. I love how they added a few ingredients in whole forms to flavor the dish, but had them removed at the end. This recipe was clearly well thought out and well-tested. Bravo, Test Kitchen, you’ve done it again!
- Jackie
