Repost: Slow Simmered Split Pea Soup

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On a freezing cold day, especially during my favorite thing in the winter (a snow storm) we like warm, hearty soup.   During our recent "blizzard", split pea soup was on our menu, and despite appearances, it is truly "blog worthy!"  

The key to the creamy texture, is the slow cooker. It started on the stove but, once all the ingredients were mixed it's moved to the slow cooler and 6 hours later, or 4 hours, whatever your preference, voila! 

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What you need: 

  • 1 lb bag of split peas
  • 2 Tbls olive oil 
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 4 carrots, chopped into centimeter sized pieces 
  • 4 celery stalks, chopped into centimeter sized pieces 
  • 1/2 bunch of thyme (about 8 stalks) 
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 4 garlic cloves, chopped 
  • 4 cups chicken broth 
  • 2 pound baby ham hock, cut in half, one half stays whole, the other half gets cut up into centimeter size cubes. 
  • Large pot 
  • Slow cooker

Like most soup recipes, you'll start the pan with your olive oil, onion, celery and oregano. Let that simmer for about 5 minutes. Add your chopped garlic, your carrots and the all the ham hock, stir it up, add the thyme. and stir another 5 minutes. Things will get cozy, the onions a tiny bit brown. Add your peas and mix a bit longer, maybe 3 minutes, then add your chicken broth. 

I let it simmer for about 5 minutes. At this point, you can keep the process moving for another day or keep it rolling. If you're ready to roll the only thing you need to do is remove the one uncut ham hock (you can leave it out or chop it up, totally up to you on how much ham you'd like in your soup) Next, take the contents of your pot and pour into your slow cooker for 4 or 6 hours. 

You won't believe how beautiful this is when it's done! 

Enjoy, xo Measure