Pea Soup

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Ingredients

1 pound dried split peas washed and checked for rocks etc.

1 onion chopped

2-3 stalks celery chopped

1 carrot (not a lot) chopped

5-6 Cups chicken stock or water

3 cloves garlic minced

ham of some type

salt and pepper to taste (careful not to over salt when using chicken broth or ham!)

red pepper flakes to taste (just a shake or two - not too much)

Procedure

Saute onions, celery, carrot in a T of oil. Add garlic and and saute for another minute or two. Add peas, chicken broth, seasonings, and ham. Bring to a boil then reduce tempt to low and simmer until peas or soft - -I usually leave it on the stove pot in a very heavy Creuset casserole for 2-3 hours.

Special Notes

I used chopped spicy capicola Italian ham and Canadian bacon the last time I made it and it was smokey spicy good!!

I did not add pepper flakes because the ham was spicy. We also eat this without meat and it is OK but we miss the smokey ham flavor. there are plenty family memories of eating pea soup in the winter with warm biscuits. There were a few friends of the kids that used to eat over often but when they saw what pea soup looked like they would suddenly have to go home to eat. We also remember eating this soup in the Netherlands at outdoor cafés on cool drizzle days.

I added some cubed potato the last time I made it and Bill liked it. Just two potatoes were added to the recipe.