Ham & Split Pea Soup (New Years Day in July)

All around the world, people join together with their friends and families to celebrate the arrival of the New Year.  Many traditional foods are consumed by one and all in the hopes that the coming year inspires health, wealth, and happiness.  In Asia, noodles are eaten to bring a long life, in many countries across the globe, pork is consumed for progress, and in Italy legumes are served to gain wealth, similar to the tradition of eating black-eyed peas here in the Southern United States.

I personally am not a huge fan of black-eyed peas, and since I usually have this beautiful ham bone left over from Christmas, or in this case, "Christmas in July", we eat Ham (progress) and Split Pea (wealth) soup.  I guess we are leaving the longevity of life up to the long nap that is taken after the meal

Sooooo, as promised in my "Christmas in July" blog, we had our “New Year’s Day in July" dinner of Ham and Split Pea Soup last night.  It was AWESOME and even my not-quite two-year old gobbled it up.

I was so excited yesterday morning before work, as I threw the split peas in a big bowl to soak.  I knew they would be ready to go when I got home and started chopping up the carrots and such.  Those little green gems did not disappoint as later in the day they were added to a hot pot of ham-infused water and cooked down to become one of my favorite soups in this world.  Alongside the soup, a beautiful crusty French batard to aid in sopping up the last delicious drops from each bowl. 

 

Ingredients & Instructions

8 C. Water
1 Lb. Dried Split Peas (soaked for at least 6 hours and drained)
1 Ham Bone
5 Tbsp. Butter
1-2 C. Ham (finely chopped)
¾ C. Celery (finely chopped)
¾ C. Carrot (finely chopped)
1 C. Onion (finely chopped)
2 tsp. Garlic (minced)
¼ tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
1 Tbsp. Dried Thyme
Bay Leaf
Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Place ham hock in a large stock pan with 8 cups of cold water.  Bring to a boil and simmer for one hour.  Pour off water into a large bowl and reserve (this will be used as your “ham juice” or base).  With ham hock still in the stock pot, add butter and saute the onions, carrots, celery, garlic and additional chopped ham.  Once vegetables are softened add the peas and the red pepper flakes and stir for a couple of minutes.  Add the “ham juice” back to the pot, along with the bay leaf and thyme and simmer covered for 1-2 hours or until the peas have almost completely melted and the soup has thickened.  For thicker soup, just remove the lid for 20 minutes or so near the end of the cooking time.  Salt and Pepper to taste.