Best Americas Test Kitchen Chunky Ham And Split Pea Soup Recipes

HAM AND SPLIT PEA SOUP RECIPE - A GREAT SOUP

Steps:

• Place the butter in a large soup pot over medium-low heat. Stir in onion, celery, and sliced garlic. Cook slowly until the onions are translucent but not brown, 5 to 8 minutes.
• Mix in ham, bay leaf, and split peas. Pour in chicken stock and water. Stir to combine, and simmer slowly until the peas are tender and the soup is thick, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Season with salt and black pepper to serve.

CHUNKY SPLIT PEA SOUP WITH HAM RECIPE - (4.5/5)

Steps:

• Ham Stock: Prepare the day before: Place the ham hocks or shank in a large kettle add 3 quarts of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for about an hour or until shank is tender. Strain broth into a container, setting aside meat to cool, and place container in the fridge overnight. When meat has cooled pull from the bones, dice and refrigerate. After stock has set overnight, remove the hard layer of fat and use stock in soup. Note: I used my pressure cooker for this at 30 minutes to make this on the same day of the soup. A quick freeze, then chill helped me to skim the fat pretty easily. Prep: Chop the onion, celery and carrots or use your food processor to make this quick. Bundle the fresh thyme with the bay leaves and tie with a kitchen twine for easy removal. Rinse the dried peas and pick through them before using. Dice the Yukon Gold potatoes into very small bite-size pieces. Chop the ham into small pieces. The pressure cooker made the ham so tender, that it broke apart very easily. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, saute onion, celery and carrots in olive oil over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until they begin to soften. Add garlic and continue to sautee' another 2 to 3 minutes. Add dried peas, bay leaves, thyme and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook about 30 minutes, then add potatoes and cook another 30 minutes or until soup is thick, potatoes are soft and peas have almost but not quite disintegrated. Add ham meat and Old Bay Seasoning (or paprika) and cook another 10 minutes. Remove bay leaves and thyme stems and season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Purée very lightly with immersion blender or puree a couple of cups of the soup in the blender, so that soup remains very chunky.

SPLIT PEA SOUP WITH HAM

Steps:

• Heat the butter in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and salt and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Do not brown.
• Add the broth, water, ham steak, bacon, peas, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil, stirring frequently to keep the peas from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the peas are tender but not falling apart, about 45 minutes.
• Remove the ham steak and place it on a plate; cover with foil and set aside. Stir in the carrots and celery and continue to simmer, covered, until the vegetables are tender and the peas have almost completely broken down, about 30 minutes longer.
• Meanwhile, shred the ham steak into small bite-size pieces with two forks. Cover with foil again.
• Remove and discard the thyme sprigs, bay leaves, and bacon slices. Add the shredded ham to the soup and return to a simmer. Add a few grinds of pepper, then taste and adjust seasoning if necessary (depending on the saltiness of the ham and bacon you used, you may need an additional ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt). Ladle the soup into bowls and top with fresh croutons, if using. (The soup will thicken as it sits on the stove; thin it with water and adjust seasoning as necessary.)
• Note: A ham steak is a thick slice of cooked ham cut from a whole ham roast. They can be found packaged in the refrigerated meat section of the supermarket, near the bacon.
• Note: Regular sliced bacon can be used, but the thinner slices are a little harder to remove from the soup.
• To Make Fresh Croutons: Melt 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add 2 cups of cubed good-quality French or Italian bread and cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown and toasted, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Make-Ahead/Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The soup can be made up to 3 days ahead of time and refrigerated, or frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost the soup in the refrigerator for 12 hours and then reheat it on the stovetop over medium heat until hot. The soup will thicken once cool, so thin with water and adjust seasoning as necessary.

AMERICA'S TEST KITCHEN CHUNKY HAM AND SPLIT PEA SOUP

Steps:

• Place ham, bay leaves, and 3 quarts water in large stockpot or Dutch oven.
• Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
• Reduce heat to low and simmer until meat is tender and pulls away from bone, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
• Remove ham meat and bone from pot and set aside.
• Add split peas and thyme to stock.
• Bring back to boil, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered until peas are tender but not dissolved, about 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, when ham is cool enough to handle, shred meat into bite-sized peas and set aside. Discard rind and bone.
• While peas are simmering, heat oil in a large skillet over high heat until shimmering.
• Add onions, carrots, and celery and saute, stirring frequently, until most of liquid evaporates and vegetables begin to brown (5 to 6 minutes).
• Reduce heat to medium-low and add butter, garlic, and sugar.
• Cook vegetables, stirring frequently, until deeply browned, 30 to 35 minutes and set aside.
• Add sauteed vegetables, potatoes, and shredded ham to pot with split peas.
• Simmer until potatoes and peas dissolve and thicken soup to consistency of light cream, about 20 minutes more.
• Season with pepper to taste.
• Ladle soup into bowls, sprinkle with red onion, if using, and serve, passing balsamic vinegar separately.