Ode to Mrs. Schreiner

I’ve been making Split Pea Soup for years, every time we have a ham, which isn’t really that often.  I use Mrs Schreiner’s recipe from Epicurious with a few changes.  I cut back on the bacon as 8 slices seems excessive.  Two or three slices give you the essential bacon fat and some to crumple over the soup. So, I do two or three slices, remove the crispy bacon, then add 1  chopped onion (1/2 is not enough) plus 4 stalks minced celery, 2-4 chopped carrots to the fat and saute.  Then add 3-4 minced cloves garlic, 1 tsp dried thyme, 1/2 tsp dried marjoram (if you have it).  Stir that up, then add 1 pound dried rinsed split peas (yellow or green) and the liquid – 2-3 quarts chicken broth/water (I do  half and half, or maybe a bit more chicken broth) and the bone from your ham, or ham shanks if you don’t have a spare ham bone around.  I don’t add the salt because the ham is salty so I check that at the end. I do add 1 large cubed potato and 2 bay leaves.   Simmer about 2 hours, check for salt and pepper. Remove the ham bone, if using, and shred the meat back into the soup.  You may have to puree, but often the peas sort of melt down into the broth. Using an immersible blender (new favorite kitchen gadget) makes this an easy choice – give it a whir as needed.  For leftovers, you have to keep adding more broth to thin the soup as it “sets up” pretty nicely.  This gives you more soup, which will be needed.  You need to serve this with some pumpernickel croutons and freshly chopped bacon bits. So good!

Advertisement