Every winter, our classic pea soup recipe rockets to the top of our most-searched list, satisfying the craving for a warm bowl of comfort. Here we’ve tarted it up a bit and added some fresh peas (okay, fresh-frozen), for their vibrant colour and sweet flavour. The pork hocks aslo give the soup a gelatinous texture and a moreish smokiness – keep the pieces chunky for added texture. The cooking time for this split pea and ham soup may be longer than that of a quick and easy midweek soup, but it’s popular for good reason.
Here’s our ultimate pea and ham soup recipe.
Ingredients
Method
Heat butter in a large saucepan over low-medium heat, add onion and garlic and sauté until tender (10-12 minutes). Add ham hocks, cover with cold water (about 4 litres), bring to the simmer, reduce heat to low and cook until ham is falling from the bone (1-1½ hours). Remove hocks from saucepan, set aside to cool and, when cool enough to handle, remove skin and bone (discard), coarsely shred meat and set aside.
Meanwhile, add split green peas to stock and simmer until very tender (45 minutes-1 hour). Add baby peas (reserve some for garnish if desired) and simmer until bright green (1-2 minutes). Purée in batches in a blender until smooth, add shredded ham to soup (reserve a little for garnish if desired), season to taste and keep warm.
Meanwhile, for herb butter, combine ingredients in a small bowl, season to taste and set aside.
Preheat a grill to high. Place baguette cut-side up on a baking tray and grill until golden (1-2 minutes each side), then spread with herb butter. Serve with hot soup topped with reserved baby peas (steamed until bright green) and shredded ham.
The secret ingredient in this pea and ham soup recipe is the addition of whole baby peas, which add a vibrant colour and fresher flavour. Plus, by using a smoked ham hock as the soup base, our hearty soup has a more complex and smoky flavour beyond those soups that use typical building blocks of split peas, ham and stock.
In this recipe, the soup is thickened through simmering the split peas. Puréeing the pea and ham hock also adds to the thickness. Other soup recipes may add flour, cream, cheese, rice or pasta to thicken them, but these ingredients add a different dimension to whatever soup you’re making. In this particular recipe, there’s no need for anything else.
In addition to using a ham hock, we have included how to make a herb butter laden with flat-leaf parsley, thyme and garlic to spread on a crusty baguette which we recommend to serve with the soup. Because sometimes it’s about the perfect accoutrement.
Split peas are dried yellow or green peas that, as the name suggests, have been split in half. They break down more quickly to a a soft, thick and smooth texture, especially when blended to a velvety consistency, and impart an earthy flavour. On the other hand, whole peas tend to produce a fresher, sweeter taste and a chunkier texture. As our pea and ham hock soup recipe calls for both split and whole peas, you get the best of both worlds.
Pea and ham soup origins and other recipe ideas
A good pea and ham soup can be as simple as split peas simmered with nothing more than a ham bone, or as luxuriant as the emerald version we’ve shot here.
In fact, the classic combination of pea soup with ham hock (or even leftover ham) features across many centuries and cultures. Different versions, like this Dutch pea and ham soup, are served across Europe. But perhaps its strongest association is with England. A very thick pea soup is called a London Particular, after the heavy fogs that enveloped the city in Charles Dickens’s day.
At the time of its origins – some sources put it as far back as ancient Greece – the split pea soup with ham was testament to the scarcity of resources in the colder months. With little fresh produce available, the only option was dried legumes and salted meats, in this case split peas and smoked or salt pork. Humble origins aside, this pea and ham soup is still one of our all-time favourites – and the perfect cure for the winter blues.
Seeking more soup recipes?
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
