Yellow Split Pea & Bacon Soup

This recipe is based off of one my mom used to make when I was a kid – her’s was a bean soup with a big leftover ham bone in it, but … my husband is allergic to beans, and I didn’t have a ham bone…. so, this is where we are. And if I’m being honest, it’s not a bad place to be!

 

Also, having just moved to “fuck-off-cold, Montana” I enjoyed letting this simmering pot of delicious smelling split pea soup warm up my new kitchen 🙂

Make this recipe on a cold day when you have a lot of time around the house!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups yellow split peas
• 6-8 cups of water
• 1/2# of bacon ends, chopped into 1/2″ pieces (we got a big bag of bacon ends at the grocery store recently, and that’s what I used for this… you could use any bacon though)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 stalks of celery
• 1 tbsp chopped rosemary
• 1 tsp garlic powder (you could use 1 clove of fresh garlic here, I just didn’t have any on hand)
• 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method: 

Throw the onions, celery, rosemary, garlic powder, and bacon into a big pot, set to medium-high, on the stove top. With a wooden spoon, stir around the sizzling bacon and veggies, until the bacon fat has melted out, the onions & celery have softened in the fat, and everything is starting to smell awesome. Add the peas and water and bring to a boil. After it boils reduce the stovetop temperature to a simmer, cover, and let sit for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally. If at any point you feel like you need more water because your peas are getting to thick or dry, add some more. I kind of eyeballed my recipe, so if it’s too thick add more water, if it’s too thin cook it longer (without the lid) and let it boil down a bit. This is a low-and-slow, set-it-and-forget-it type recipe, so you can’t really fuck it up by cooking it too long.  In fact, if you’re feeling really lazy, this soup is fantastic in a crockpot as well!

The soup will be finished when the split peas have softened and have basically disintegrated. Before serving, add the chopped parsley and salt and pepper to taste. This recipe makes 6-8 servings. Enjoy!