Split Pea Soup

With the help of the pressure cooker, split pea soup is done in a few minutes. If you omit the meat you have great vegetarian dish. However, addition of a smoked ham adds very nice complexity to the whole dish. This is great recipe for busy weeks as its very hearty. You can control level of soup thickness by adding more or less water.

Flash soak
 250 g dry peas(split yellow or green)
Sauté
 20 g of butter(or pork lard)
 150 g cooked ham(cut to cubes, smoked ideally)
 100 g onion(half medium sized onion)
 1 pt garlic clove(minced or sliced thinly)
Aromatics and spices
 2 pt bay leaf(dry)
Liquids
 700 ml chicken stock(or beef stock)
 ¼ tsp salt(depending on sodium level of stock)
Serving
 2 toasted bread(cubed)
 4 slices of the fried bacon

Preparation
1

  • Bring pot of water to the boil and soak the peas, set aside.
  • Dice onion and garlic finely. Cut your ham to cubes.

Cooking
2

  • On high heat, brown the ham in the pressure cooker.
  • Develop nice browning on ham and fond in the pot. Make sure to not to burn it.
  • Once the ham is browned, add the butter and sauté onion for about 2-3 minutes.
  • Afterwards and garlic and heat through till aromatic.
  • Drain peas and add them to pot with bay leaf and chicken stock.
  • Make sure to scrape all fond from the bottom of the pot.
  • Close pressure cooker and cook for 20 minutes with natural release.

Serving
3

  • After pressure has naturally released open the lid and and stir soup well with ladle.
  • You don’t need a mixer, peas will be completely soft, literally melting.
  • Serve into the bowls, top with crispy bacon and croutons.