Pea Soup!

Pea soup is one of my favorite soups, and it’s what’s actually simmering in the kitchen right now, so that’s what’s cooking here at The Magic Meal Fairy!

Boil the dry split peas in the water for two minutes, then add the ham bone or ham hocks, and simmer on a lower heat for an hour to an hour and a half. I used ham hocks for this tonight because that’s what I had on hand. When you make a ham dinner, never throw away the bone; freeze it for later use in soups.

Meanwhile, you can get the chopping done. Slice the celery in half lengthwise and then into ¼ to ½ inch slices.

Chop the onions as you would for most anything else.

And peel and slice the carrots into ½ inch rounds.

When the ham bone or ham hocks are done, remove from the pan and let cool on a plate.

Add the celery, onions, and carrots to the split peas and simmer until tender.






When the ham bone or ham hocks are cooled enough, pick off the meat, if any. Seriously, ham hocks don’t exactly have much meat to speak of, haha. But they do give the soup the wonderful smoky hammy flavor, so I use them if I don’t have a ham bone.

At any rate, I’ve always had to add some meat to whatever I used for this soup, so I just cut up some turkey ham into chunks and added that.

Your pea soup is done when the vegetables are tender and the added ham meat is heated through. Serve with some nice dinner rolls. My favorite bread to serve with pea sou p is ham fat rolls. They are easy to make and compliment this soup wonderfully! I’ll share that recipe next time.

Just a note about pea soup: it is actually better tasting the day after. And since it’s so easy to make, it’s a great little soup to make for the next day while you’re making something else for supper. Hope you enjoy! ~TMMF

Pea Soup
     (serves 6-8)

1 bag dry split peas
8 c. water
ham bone or ham hocks
2 c. ham
1 medium onion
2 large stalks celery
5-6 carrots