Easy Pea & Ham Soup (Plus A Knife-Skills Lesson)

1hockonionpeas

I traveled this weekend to spend time with a friend in another state. As is the current fashion, she is hellish good at her job and an absolute novice in the kitchen. I get it, it’s political. I am happy to step into the kitchen and do my thing. As an aside, I suspect that I should mention that the woman knows her way around an ironing board and I have to confess that, if it isn’t in a closet, my ironing board makes an excellent shelf.

So fall is definitely in the air and I got in the mood for soup. I love to make soup. I come from a family who used every scrap of leftovers in the soup kettle. It even had a name, Brickbarn Soup – named after my grandparents home, where the art of leftovers’ soup was first perfected. Every chicken carcass became soup stock and gave up every last shred of meat on its now boiling bones. Extra gravy – in the soup. Extra Vegetables – in the soup. Something mysterious in the back of the refrigerator that seems to be gently pulsating . . . er, perhaps not!

All images in this photo-intensive post are by Paulette. Thank you!

1dutchoven

So I wasn’t in my usual kitchen and did not really know what (if any) ingredients were on hand. However, a bag of green split-peas was produced and the idea soup quickly emerged. On top of that the suggestion of a fabulously weighty Le Creuset Dutch Oven. Such are the foundations for many a fine soup! This is a bare-bones recipe and can be easily embellished. Because it is so simple, I threw in a little tutorial on how to cut an onion. Your mileage may vary!

Ingredients:
As much butter as you dare to use.
1 Onion, Diced
1 or 2 Smoked Ham Hocks
1 lb Split Peas
1 lb Ham
4 Cups Chicken Stock
Salt, Pepper & Seasoning to Taste

Green Split-Peas

Melt your butter

Add the diced onion and saute until soft.

Here is the quick tutorial on how to cut an onion (see more knife skills here):

Take an onion and a sharp knife!

You don’t need the top or bottom – so cut them off!

You can then see exactly where to cut the onion so that it is exactly in half.

After you cut it in half, it is really easy to peel the skin layer off each half of the onion.

As we used to say, back home in Indiana – Wah Lah!

Now the tricky bit.

I am right-handed. Please note the claw-like grip on the onion. Right now, it isn’t very important, but you will soon see why cooks use this technique.

This next part is going to drive trained kitchen folk nuts. I thought about leaving it out, but this is really how I cut.

I am holding the onion together as I make a series of fine parallel cuts.

I also figure that, since I am cutting between my thumb and fingers, this is also pretty safe.

The result is a finely sliced onion. Now on to the dicing part…

Turn the onion 90 degrees and begin the fine slice across this time. Please note the claw-like grip and the position of the knife against the knuckle.

The grip and the protruding knuckle ensure that you do not cut your hand. Indeed, I had a job where my first duty in the morning, was to slice 20 or 30 pounds of mushrooms at a time. You learn to keep your blade sharp and your fingers tucked out of the way!

The result is a fine dice and all digits intact!

WHAT NOT TO DO!

The #1 mistake for cooks is to let their thumb trail behind the blade - thus, ensure that not only the food gets sliced!

The #1 mistake for cooks is to let their thumb trail behind the blade – thus, ensuring that not only the food gets sliced!

Back to the recipe… where we have our onion frying in butter and getting soft.

Add your ham hocks.

The hocks really are only there for flavor. Think of them as you “soup bone”.

Then add your split green-peas.

And then your chicken stock. You could use homemade stock or bouillon.

The ham hocks do not render much useable meat and I like a lot of ham in my Pea & Ham soup, so I buy lean ham add add it to the soup.

The ham hocks do not render much usable meat and I like a lot of ham in my Pea & Ham soup, so I buy lean ham add add it to the soup.

It gets diced. Note the claw!

The ham is then added to the pot.

A Bay Leaf actually adds a layer of flavor-complexity to the soup. Don’t believe me? Boil a couple of bay leaves in water and smell the pungent aroma. Keep boiling for an hour or two and the flavor mellows out.