Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Split Pea & Ham Soup

For Christmas dinner we had ordered a Honey Baked Ham and had it shipped to us.  Never again will we stand in a line that wraps around the building of the Honey Baked Ham Store!!
We enjoyed two dinners and a couple of sandwiches.  And with what was left I made a pot of split pea soup.
A bag of split peas, an onion, a few celery stalks, carrots if you want, however I didn't add them this time, and enough water to cover.  Oh, and your ham bone of course.
I like to give the celery and onion a little saute first in some olive oil.
Add your ham and rinsed peas.
Pour enough water into the pot to cover peas, and most of ham.   About 6 cups or so.
I put only cracked pepper in to season at this point.  Ham is so salty, you don't want to add salt that you don't need.  Wait until it is nearly done to taste, and then determine how much salt you need.  You can add a couple bay leaves if you want.  Usually I do.
Bring to a boil, give a good stir, and reduce heat to low, and put lid on and let simmer for several hours.  5 - 6 hours later, the ham will have fallen off of the bones.  Remove the bones and discard any pieces of fat. 
I like to use my immersion blender at this point to smooth out the soup.  However, if you do this, you may want to remove the ham, as it can become stringy when using this blender.  I, however, like to live dangerously, and did not remove the ham. Instead I later used a toothpick to remove the stringy ham from the blades of my blender.  No matter, the soup was divine!

Serve with a little dollop of sour cream and more cracked pepper.  Usually we have cornbread with this.  But instead we had sour dough toast.  Delicious!
Bon Appetit!

14 comments:

Debbiedoos said...

Kris we had honey baked ham too! We love it, it's tradition in our house. We went just a few days ahead of time and walked right in. I wanted to make split pea soup too...but guess what, my family despises peas. I love it, my Gram made it all the time.

Stacey said...

Yum!!!! that looks Amazing :)

Genn said...

Oh thanks for posting this!! Now I am DYING to have a cup of that soup!! Is there any left? Can I come get a cup on my way to work tomorrow? I'm not joking! :) You make the BEST split pea soup.

So, will just any ham do, or is it so much better with a honey baked ham? Help me out. Maybe just shop with me and come make it at my house? No? Yes?

See you in the morning for my soup. ?

annielizabeth said...

Hi Kris, Yummy soup! Perfect for our weather we've been having. Your Christmas day looked magical. Hope you have the healthiest and best new year ever! Hugs, Annie

Holly said...

That looks so good. We did the Paula Deen Smithfield ham this year and it was pretty good. My husband and I debated as to whether we should save the ham bone. I think I just couldn't imagine ever cooking anything ever again in my life and that's why it got thrown out. Sure wish I had it now.

Katie said...

That is the biggest cutting board I have ever seen!!! I want one that size.

Kristi said...

That looks delicious!! I just love soup...if you drop some off at Genn's, you know I'm just a hop, skip, and a jump away. My door is always open for hot soup, and muffins, and anything else that is being whipped up in your kitchen!

I totally cracked up when you told us that you lived dangerously!! So funny!

Pammy Sue said...

Honey Baked Hams are so freakin' good! There is nothing else like it. YUM! Your soup looks really good too.

- said...

This is a favorite of ours too! Once when Mom was making us this years ago she'd run out of split peas and sent me to the corner store! I ran in there (they all knew me as a good little kid)and announced to the store owner, "I need another bag of yellow spit please!", instead of yellow split peas. I was soooo embarrassed over all of the laughter.

Yours looks just wonderful!

Unknown said...

It looked so good, I stopped on the way home, bought a ham, bag of split peas, carrots & celery. Perfect for New Years Day.

Oh, but I will need to fix the black eyed peas also.

Mom

Jennifer said...

I had NO IDEA that Honeybaked would ship the ham to you!! Who knew?? I wonder if they have a ham of the month club and I could just keep 'em coming! Love that ham!!

Loved looking through your Christmas photos - and those kiddos in their matching pjs! Love it. Looks like a wonderful day.

Hope you all are looking forward to a great new year!! And lots of good eatin' (just love all your recipes!!)

~Niki~ said...

I'm so UNprepared for New Year's this year. Our tradition is to make homemade Lentil Soup on NYEVE. We'll see if I get my behind to the store today to get some fixins for that. The pea soup sounds Yummy! My dad always adds potatoes to his, do you? have you ever tried it? hmm

Tammy said...

That sounds so yummy!

Red Geranium Cottage said...

WOW I am going to give this a try Kris. I love pea soup and I have ham in the fridge. YUM