Pea Soup

I made this the other day because I had a ham bone left over from a party. It’s especially good when you use one.

Ingredients

1/2 TBSP olive oil

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup chopped carrots

2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced

24 cups of broth; try to use low sodium because the ham and the broth combined may make the soup too salty

1 ham bone with suffient ham left to extract into the soup [about a cup or more]

1 14 ounce bag of split peas

1 14 ounce bag of dried peas [use two bags of split peas if these are unavailable]

pepper to taste

[optional] cayenne pepper to spice it up a bit

Method

1. Put the oil, carrots, garlic, onions and celery in a large soup pot; cover and over medium heat, “sweat the onions” – about 5 minutes or so.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.

3. Reduce heat and simmer until pea soup is thick as fog.

Serve with hardy bread.

This recipe is easily halved, but I like to make a lot so that I can freeze or can the remainder so that I have it on hand.