Recipe: Split Pea Soup

Split pea soup is a winter family-favorite recipe. It came to us from some family friends in the Netherlands (hence the metric measurements) and makes great use of many winter-storage vegetables. We typically find ham works best as the pork, but have used pork chops too if we don’t have ham on hand.

Ingredients:

• 500 grams (1 pound bag) of green split peas

• 2 liters of water

• 400 grams of pork (ham, ham steak, pork chop)

• 3 bay leaves

• 10 branches of celery leaves (off of celeriac or can use off celery stalks)

• 5 bouillon blocks

• 300 grams (2 large bulbs) of celeriac or celery root

• 3 large white potatoes

• 2 yellow onions

• 300 grams (4 - 6 leeks) leeks

• 500 grams (1 pound) of carrots

• Parsley leaves or dried parsley

• 1 rookworst (smoked sausage in casing)

• 250 grams (4 - 5 strips) bacon

Wash split peas in mesh strainer to ensure no rocks. Put peas, pork, bacon, half of the celery leaves, parsley, bouillon blocks, and water into stockpot. Bring to a boil then simmer on low heat for 45 minutes. After 30 minutes of simmering, add peeled celeriac and potato to pot. Using a spoon, skim off the foam while the peas are simmering. Mince the onions and leaves, peel carrots and cut into rounds. Chop remaining celery leaves finely. Remove pork and cut into smaller pieces. Remove branches of celery leaves and bay leaves. Add onions, leeks, carrots, and rookworst/smoked sausage to pot and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Add salt and pepper as needed.