Split Pea Soup

By Jen -


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Ingredients:

1 lb bag of green split peas
1 yellow onion
2-3 carrots
6-8 mushrooms (optional)
1 can/box of condensed cream of mushroom soup (Pacific organic is okay but nothing beats Campbells)
1 ham shank - not ham hocks.*
1/2 bay leaf
salt and pepper

 










Image result for ham shank pics


* If your market doesn't have the small ham shank (usually near other smoked ham products) use a ham butt portion. You can use the denser cuts of ham like black forest or other varieties of ham shaped into handy rounds but I think you miss out on some of the flavor provided by the ham bone. You can buy the ham shank butt portion (usually around $15.00) and cut it in half and freeze the left over portion for another round of soup (like Ham and Bean Soup) or to be cooked and eaten as...ham.


Left over ham goes in the freezer for later


So... to prepare the recipe:

Rinse and sort the split peas. Take out any that are black, rinse and put the peas into the slow
cooker. A pound of split peas is about two cups.


Add to the slow cooker:
1 yellow onion - diced
2-3 carrots, scrubbed - diced
1 cup (approx) sliced mushrooms (optional)



rough dice of carrots



Onions don't have to be difficult - don't leave them out, they add so much flavor!
When cutting, keep the inside of a COLD onion on the board.
Slice carefully one way and then turn and slice the other.
A sharp knife is needed!





Wait to add salt until soup has cooked a bit and
don't use too much bay leaf
Add: 1/2 of a bay leaf. You just don't need that much but it adds a nice taste
Add a little pepper. Hold off on the salt - the ham will add a lot of flavor.











Pour in 7-8 cups of water.
Mix in the can of soup.
Yes, it smells gross but stir it in anyway.

Set your piece of ham in the mixture - whether shank or part of larger cut. If you are adding a more processed ham, just dice it up - about two cups worth - and toss it in.

Soup at the beginning of cooking cycle - check out the finished product at the end of the post

Set slow cooker according to when you will be home. Split peas don't need a lot of time to soften. I set my slow cooker to 4 hours on high and the ham is falling off the bone by then while the peas are soft and disintegrated. If you want long and low - that should work just fine.

If you have used a shank of ham or a piece with the bone in it, you will need to pull the ham piece out onto a cookie sheet and pull the meat off the bone. It should shred very easily. Cut or shred the ham into bit size pieces and add back to the soup.
Bone with meat ready to pull off


Finished soup - see how the color of the peas came out?

Check for seasoning.

Storage: Easily frozen and keeps in fridge for 4-5 days. Split pea soup thickens overnight and when frozen. Just add some water when you reheat.


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