Pea & ham soup, a delicious thick warming soup, this recipe uses ham hocks a relatively inexpensive ingredient, this recipe can be cooked from scratch or it is a great way of using the leftover stock from making maple glazed ham hocks, if doing this either use left over ham from glazed hock recipe or cook a couple of extra hocks at the same time especially for the soup. Serve with crusty bread.
Ingredients:
50g butter
2 onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 large ham hocks
800g dried green split peas
350g frozen green peas, plus handful for garnish
Method:
Note: if using ham stock from maple glazed ham hocks, skip to step second step
Melt butter in a large saucepan over a low-medium heat, add onion & garlic and sauté until tender. Add ham hocks, cover with cold water, around 4 litres, as soon as it starts to boil, cover and simmer for at least 2-3 hours over a low heat (Aga simmering oven) until meat is very tender and virtually falling off the bone. Leave to cool in cooking liquid.
50g butter, 2 onions chopped, 4 cloves of garlic chopped, 2 large ham hocks |
Remove hocks and set aside, add green split peas to stock and simmer over low heat until very tender, at least 1 hour (Aga simmering oven)
Meanwhile remove skin & bone from hocks and discard, coarsely shred meat and set aside. When split peas are tender, add frozen peas and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
Use a hand blender to blend until smooth (or purée in batches until smooth in a blender). Add shredded ham, reserving a couple of handfuls for garnishing, stir until well combined, season well, taste and add more seasoning if necessary.
800g dried green split peas, 350g frozen green peas |
When ready to serve, put a knob of butter in a small frying pan, add reserved shredded ham & peas and sauté to quickly heat through.
Serve soup in wide bowls with ham & pea garnish sprinkled on top and warm crusty bread.
Sourcing ingredients:
Ham hocks from Kathleen Noonan, The English Market, Cork €3 each or all good butchers
Dried green split peas available from Mr Bell's, The English Market, Cork or health food stores and large supermarkets
Looks lush!