It takes time to make pea soup, but most of the time you can leave it unattended. You can start cooking it on weekends, in the early afternoon, when you know you will be spending some time at home; prepare plenty of it so you can also eat it in the following days. You can also freeze leftovers. It is an inexpensive, tasty and quite healthy dish. There are many recipes, so feel free to experiment and change the proportions between water and vegetables. It all depends on your tastes and what you have available.
Ingrediants
For about 10 servings
- 450 g of dried peas
- 2 liters of water
- 1 large or 2 small onion (white or yellow)
- 3 stalks of celery, including the leaves
- 3 carrots
- 1 bay leaf
- 30 ml of olive or seed oil
- Salt and Pepper To Taste.
Optional Ingredients
- Ham bone or smoked pork knuckle
- 115 g cooked ham (not necessary, if using the shank)
- 2 large chopped tomatoes (highly recommended, if you don't use meat)
- 3-5 minced garlic cloves
- 1 green pepper
- Basil, cumin, coriander, ginger, marjoram, rosemary or thyme
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Prepare the Ingredients
Step 1. Select and rinse the peas
Since it is a natural product, there may be small pebbles, earth or pod fragments in the package. Sift the dried peas with your fingers and remove these impurities. Once you have only the peas, rinse them through a mesh strainer to get rid of the soil.
Step 2. Soak the legumes (optional)
The peas cook quite quickly, so soaking is not always necessary. That said, you can speed up cooking times even further by leaving them in a pot of water for about 4 hours or overnight.
Step 3. Cut the vegetables
If you want to add them to the soup, cut carrots, onions, celery and any other vegetables you want. If you love rather liquid soups, finely chop the vegetables or cut them into 6-12 mm pieces, if you prefer dishes that are more similar to minestrone.
Set aside half a carrot to grate in the bowl before serving (optional)
Step 4. Simmer the ham bone or the shank (optional)
If you have leftover ham bone, cut and discard the fat. If you are using a smoked shank, leave it as it is. Either way, you have two options available to add to the soup:
- Simmer the ham in a pot of water, skimming the liquid constantly. Cook it for about an hour before starting to boil the peas.
- Alternatively, you can cook the ham in the same pan with the peas. This is a faster method, but it gives less flavor. You also run the risk of overcooking the legumes and reducing them to a pulp, since the ham needs 1-2 hours to become tender and detach from the bone.
Step 5. Make the vegetarian version of the dish tastier
If you have decided not to use pork, you can still make the soup very tasty, in a different way. The garlic and pepper have a strong flavor, while the tomatoes give a dense texture to the dish. Use vegetable broth to partially replace the water and maybe even a drop of wine (red or white). Don't forget the aromatic herbs like thyme and rosemary.
Acidic ingredients like tomatoes and wine cause peas to take longer to become tender. For this reason they should be used in small quantities or added in the last stages of cooking, to avoid mistakes
Part 2 of 2: Making the Soup
Step 1. Boil the peas, stirring often
Bring 2 liters of water to a boil, preferably in a thick-bottomed pan to prevent the dish from burning. Add the peas and boil them, stirring often to prevent them from sticking to the pot.
- If you cooked the ham, add the peas to the same pot or replace part of the water with the ham broth.
- If you haven't cooked the pork in advance, add it directly to the pea pan.
Step 2. Cover the pot and let it simmer
Stir the contents from time to time to keep the peas from burning.
Step 3. Brown the vegetables
In a large pan, heat the oil until it simmer. Add the onions and sauté them until they become shiny and soft without caramelizing them; this will take 3-5 minutes. Add the rest of the vegetables, the bay leaf and all the aromatic herbs you have decided to use. Brown everything for another 5 minutes. This preparation will give the soup even more flavor.
Step 4. Add the vegetables to the soup as desired
Fresh peas cook in 45-60 minutes, depending on how creamy you want the mixture. If, on the other hand, you have kept them for a while, it will also take 90-120 minutes before they become tender. Try to add the vegetables in the last half hour of cooking (if you have any doubts, incorporate them 20 minutes after the water has started to simmer).
- Add the bay leaf and other aromatic herbs immediately, accompanied by a pinch of salt. Despite what kitchen gossip claims, salt does not extend cooking times. If you cooked the peas in the ham broth, you don't need to add salt.
- If you love soft vegetables that tend to pulp, add them to the soup immediately.
Step 5. Take care of the ham
When the peas begin to break slightly, but there are still 30 minutes left to cook, remove the bone from the ham or shank. Wait until it is cold enough to handle it. Remove the meat residues, cut them into cubes and put them back in the soup; finally throw the bone.
If you plan to blend the soup, don't add the meat until you decide to serve the dish
Step 6. Blend the soup (optional)
If you like it especially creamy, you can use a blender or hand mixer to make your dish a puree. Remove the bay leaf before proceeding. If you prefer a dish similar to minestrone, avoid this step.
If you use a glass blender, work only a little of the soup at a time since, when it is hot, it could splash from the lid of the appliance
Step 7. Season with salt and pepper
Use wholemeal for a more complex flavor, although any type of salt will do.
Step 8. Serve the soup still very hot
Remove the bay leaf before serving. You can accompany it with fresh bread, corn bread or with savory biscuits, to offer a simple but tasty winter dish or a side dish. Add raw carrot, freshly grated, for a crunchy touch.
Advice
- If the soup burns, transfer it to another pot without stirring it, otherwise you will transfer the burnt flavor to the rest of the dish.
- If you want to freeze the soup, insert a sturdy plastic bag inside a bowl and pour the dish with a ladle. Eliminate the excess air present in the bag, seal it and place it in the freezer. After defrosting it, heat it in the pan by adding a little water.
- The pea soup tastes better the next day, as the flavors have had time to blend. Do not be afraid to prepare large quantities and have some leftovers, they will keep well in the fridge.
Warnings
- If you don't stir it regularly, the soup will stick to the bottom of the pot. Use a thick-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven to keep the heat low.
- Steam can create burns as much as boiling water. Be cautious.
- Be very careful when handling hot soup and bone. Kitchen tongs could be useful for removing the bone without burning yourself.
