Split Pea soup with Ham Recipe
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Category: |
Category: |
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Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 1 ham bone – with leftover meat on it
2-3 c. dried, whole, split green peas (1 package is 2 cups)
2 ½ to 4 quarts water/chicken broth to cover ham bone, depending on how many peas you add and size of bone – delicious with ½ chicken broth and half water
¼ cup butter
1 cup onions, chopped/diced
1 cup celery, chopped – with leaves
2 c. organic carrots, diced
1 large garlic clove (or 2-3 small ones)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. thyme
Salt and pepper
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Directions: |
Directions:1. Prepare beans overnight. Soak your peas in warm water (about 120 degrees F) for approx. 10-24 hours, using a pinch of baking soda to make alkaline water. This leeches the phytic acid out of the legume. If you can, draining and re-soaking the legumes during this 24 hour process will help to prevent the phytic acid from getting reabsorbed. This soaking process also does something else. It releases an enzyme from the legume itself that inactivates phytic acid, which makes this process even more crucial! This will reduce or eliminate gas producing effects from the peas. I usually soak them overnight.
2. The next day when you’re ready to cook your soup, drain and rinse the legumes. Replace with fresh water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and drain the water. At this stage what you are doing is leeching out sugars you can’t digest. These sugars such as raffinose, go into the intestines undigested, and then bacteria in the gut digest them and produce gas which then causes bloating. If in a hurry, you can skip this second boiling step and just use the drained pre-soaked peas in step 4.
3. In a Dutch oven, melt butter and sauté onions along with celery & carrots, and lightly sauté for 3-5 minutes until caramelized (translucent & lightly brown). Add garlic to sauté pan, and sauté an additional minute.
4. Add the ham bone, the drained peas, broth and water (Making sure there is enough liquid to cover the bone), and herbs with in the Dutch oven and bring back to a boil. Make sure you use at least 8 cups of liquid per 2 cups of peas, and using half chicken broth provides a nice flavor.
5. Once it comes back to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and simmer on stove for 2-3 hours.
6. Remove from heat. Take ham bone out, and cool enough to cut the meat off the bone and return chunks of meat to the soup.
7. Salt and pepper to taste. Hams vary in saltiness so taste before salting. . Soup will thicken as it stands. |
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Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: . I make this every year, after New Year’s. It is excellent if you like split pea soup. I freeze containers for later, probably up to 6 months in freezer.
The trick is to soak your legumes for a sufficient amount of time, and in the right TYPE of water. Beans, lentils, and split peas have a compound in them called phytic acid. This compound is the plant’s defense against having predators such as humans eat them. Phytic acid is an “anti-nutrient”, meaning it prevents the absorption of some minerals (such as calcium and phosphorus), and prevents the release of some enzymes that our body produces to digest the proteins in your meal. The result is bloating.
Black beans - best soaked in water with some lemon juice/vinegar
Lentils - best soaked in water with some lemon juice/vinegar
Fava beans - best soaked in water with some lemon juice/vinegar
Split peas - best soaked in water with a pinch of baking soda
Brown beans/White beans/Kidney beans - best soaked in soft water (devoid of minerals, so slightly acidic). If unavailable, use tap water and a bit of lemon juice
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