Warning - I got caught out on this one. I thought split peas didn't need soaking but they do and I hadn't. Instead, I zizzed the split peas to powder before starting to make the soup and it worked a treat.
Ingredients to make one big bowlful
bit of onion, chopped
a bit of celery, chopped
half a smallish carrot, washed and chopped
30g yellow split peas
150mls ham stock** and 150mls water
pepper (no salt, see below)
little bit of garlic puree
pinch dried mixed herbs
a splash of milk
Method
Either:
soak the yellow split peas in water for a day (and use less liquid in the soup)
or:
place the split peas in a blender type thing and zizz them until they are a flour consistency
Place everything except the milk in a saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer until everything is cooked.
Zizz to required smoothness. Taste and adjust seasoning if required. Add a splashy of milk and serve piping hot.
** I only had 150 mls of the stock left so made it up to 300 mls with water. It was a flavoursome stock from boiling a ham earlier in the week. No need for extra salt, even though the ham was unsmoked.
If you don't have ham stock, you can use any other stock; then it will be split pea, not ham and split pea soup. Adjust seasonings accordingly.
In a Thermomix, zizz the peas until they are reduced to a flour consistency.
Add everything else but the milk and cook for 20 mins, 100C, speed 4. Then zizz for about 20 seconds. Add a splash of milk and reheat to 98C just before serving.
I don't have a soup maker but I guess the process would be very similar.
This makes a smooth, creamy textured soup that is very filling, nourishing, warming and delicious. It is also a great use of leftover ham stock and is inexpensive to make. You can be flexible with seasonings too - a bit of a spice kick would be nice.
Post script!
Edited to say that now it has cooled, it has set quite solid. I could almost slice it! I suspect that 50g of dried split peas (which is what I used) is too much and I have edited the ingredients to say 30g instead.
Mine was thick enough to slice too! Also, the one portion i took to work was too much, and so did 2 lunches. I pre-soaked my ham before cooking and didn't add any salt, but the soup was almost too salty for even my salt-monster tastes! Currently making a murky-looking mushroom soup with almost 2 packs of mushrooms from the fridge as we picked up some ys mushrooms tonight (so need to use what we have in first.)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely you do and while it may look somewhat Neville-Potion-Like, mushroom soup is always delicious.
ReplyDeleteThe big problem with ham stock is the salt, isn't it, especially now that other, commercial stock cubes have reduced salt quite well. Was your ham smoked? I find that smoked ham stock is just too much. I can get a hammy effect by adding a bit of lean cooking bacon to the mix and using a veg stock instead.
J x
Am not keen on smoked, so just a plain joint (prob Tesco). Husband loved the mushroom soup, the rest of us not, so the leftovers will be repurposed as pasta sauce.
ReplyDelete