Split Pea Soup

Listen, if comfort food had a mascot, this split pea soup would be it—wearing a cozy sweater and humming smooth jazz. It’s thick and greener than your neighbor’s lawn after they hired a landscaping crew. One spoonful and suddenly you’re wrapped in a warm hug from a bowl that smells like pure happiness and Sunday naps. It’s the kind of soup that makes you question why you ever doubted peas in the first place—humble, hearty, and secretly a superstar

Ingredients

• 16oz Bag of Split Peas
• 2 Cups/268g Onion (diced)
• 1 Cup/125g Carrot (diced)
• 1 Cup/ 134g Celery (diced)
• 5 Cloves/20g Garlic (minced)
• 7oz/196g Bacon (chopped)
• 1.5# Ham Steak
• 3 Tbs All Season Banger
• 1 Tbs Cumin
• 3 Quarts Chicken/Veg Stock
  
• 3 Tbs unsalted Butter
• 5 Bay Leaves
• 1 tsp Thyme powder or 1/2 Tbs fresh Thyme
• 1/4 bunch of Parsley

Directions

• Chop the uncooked bacon into meduim pieces, put in a pot over medium heat (use at least a 12 quart pot) and cook until fat has rendered out. Take out cooked bacon and set aside.
• In the pot with bacon grease add 3 Tbs Butter, toss in onion, carrot and celery. Cook over medium heat for 8 minutes, were sweating down the veggies over here🤌🏼 Add garlic, 2 Tbs Banger seasoning and 1 Tbs of ground cumin. Cook for another 5 minutes. Dont let anything burn.
• Add Split Peas to the pot along with 2 quarts (8 cups) of Stock, Bay Leaves and Thyme. Cover and Cook for 45 minutes/ 1 hour until peas are tender.
• In a large skillet add cooking oil and sear big boy ham-steak to give it some color/caramelization flavor. About 4 minutes per side on med/high heat. Take out of pan, let it cool down, then cut it into bite size cubes. Set aside
• Returing to the pea pot..lol. Add all parsley and 1 more quart(4 cups) of stock while blending until silky smooth. Then add ham steak cubes. (may need to add more stock depending of preferred thickness of soup). I, personally enjoy it THIC but not too thick.
• Ladle soup into desired bowl, garnish with cooked bacon bits and fried garlic, Olive Oil or whatever you want, It’s your show!