If you ever find yourself sitting on some fresh ham hocks or a leftover ham bone…use them to help create this delicious, homestyle soup.
Hearty Split Pea Soup
If you ever find yourself sitting on some fresh ham hocks or a leftover ham bone…use them to help create this delicious, homestyle soup.
Ingredients
- 32oz worth of whole ham hocks
- 40oz chicken stock
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 white onion, medium dice
- 2 carrots, medium dice
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 4 red bliss potatoes
- Any spare ham bones, if available
- 1 cup split green peas
- Salt & freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
- 6 scallions, finely sliced, as garnish
- 1 cup sour cream, as garnish
Instructions
- Add the ham hocks to a soup pot with the chicken stock.
- Turn heat to high and bring stock to just below a simmer.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and braise the ham hocks for roughly 90 minutes, or until just fork-tender.
- *Try to avoid boiling the ham hocks at this stage--just let them gently bathe in the hot, barely-simmering chicken stock.
- Once the ham hocks are fork-tender, remove pot from the heat and allow hocks to cool at room temperature in the braising liquid.
- In a separate saute pan, heat 2 Tbsp vegetable and cook the onion and carrots on medium heat for 10 minutes.
- In a separate saute pan, heat 2 Tbsp vegetable and cook the onion and carrots on medium heat for 10 minutes.
- Remove the ham hocks from the chicken stock liquid it was cooked in earlier and set them aside on a plate.
- Shred the tender pork meat from the ham hocks, discarding any skin, bones, or inedible bits from the shredded mixture.
- Set the shredded mixture aside for later.
- Wash the red bliss potatoes with the skin on.
- Cut potatoes into ¼” cubes.
- Add potatoes to the onions and carrots.
- Add the chicken stock liquid you used to cook the ham hocks to the potatoes and onions and carrots.
- Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer.
- Add the 1 cup of split green peas, and allow the mixture to cook until the peas are completely tender.
- Once the peas are completely cooked, add the shredded pork meat from earlier into the soup.
- Serve hot, topped with a dollop of sour cream and a handful of freshly-sliced scallions.
Notes
This soup makes for wonderful leftovers.
