Looking for a delicious and comforting soup? Look no further than this traditional pea and ham soup. Made with frozen peas, it's sure to fill you up and warm you up on a cold day.
This soup requires nothing more than a little time…
I've been wanting to make a version of this soup ever since I can remember.
For whatever reasons, I couldn't find smoked ham hocks so when I spotted them the other day I snapped them up to experiment.
My research revealed that there's numerous versions to making pea and ham soup from scratch.
Related: Try my carrot and orange soup for something different
I went with making the stock first. I let it simmer in peace and quiet to extract the maximum "porky goodness" from the ham hocks.
Once I was satisfied with the flavour, I made the soup using my favourite stand-by ingredient-frozen peas.
The end result was a rich, hearty soup perfect for the cooler evenings. (even though it hardly feels like winter in Sydney this year).
I accompanied it with some home made "no knead" spelt bread (recipe coming soon-it's a beauty!) and enjoyed it in peace.
📋 Recipe
Traditional Pea and Ham Soup
Ingredients
For the stock:
- 600 grams ham hock, smoked and cured
- 2 litres cold water
- 1 leek, white part only
- ½ brown onion
- 2 carrots , chopped into even chunks
- ½ celery , stalk only
- a bouquet garni made up of 2 bay leaves, 5-6 peppercorns, 4 sprigs fresh thyme, 4 stalks parsley
For the soup:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 500 grams peas, frozen
- salt and pepper to season
Instructions
- Place the ham hock along with the water, vegetables and bouquet garni in a tall, stock pot. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Skim off any impurities that rise to the surface.
- Cook for approx 2-2.5 hours until the ham hocks are soft and nearly falling off the bone.
- Remove the ham hocks and set aside to cool. Discard the bouquet garni and using a hand blender blend all the veggies and stock. Set aside.
- In a separate pot heat the olive oil, add the onions and garlic and allow to soften for a few minutes. Add the peas and the ham hock stock and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
- Blitz with a hand blender and add the shredded ham meat (discarding any fatty bits) to the soup. Season with salt and pepper.
Nutrition
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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Spanish Recipes
Now it's starting to get hot here Peter, but soups are always welcome and peas are such a sweet legume, I love them :D. I bet the soup tastes great even cold. By the way, have you seen my new blog? I'm so proud of it and would love to have your opinion... please... I know what you mean by needing to be disconnected but your opinion is so important to me. Will you, please? Thank you darling.
Rosa
So comforting. A tasty and soul-uplifting soup.
Cheers,
Rosa
Jane's Adventures in Dinner
Totally true about ham hocks-they are not easy to find and need to be snapped up whenever possible. Love the soup, I usually make mine with dried, split peas but I love this fresher version so much more.
Lizzy (Good Things)
Gorgeous recipe, Peter... I always freeze the ham bone from our Christmas ham and then use it in Autumn or Winter to make this or a lentil version. Delicious! A question.... do you home deliver? ; ) Hope you are feeling better now.
The Hungry Australian
I love this soup and made it the other day actually. So delicious and warming. Your version looks beautiful and I love the styling here, Peter. Feel better xx
Sylvie Shirazi
That soup sounds like just the thing to warm you up and fight off a cold. Hope you are on the mend!
AmandaChewTown
I'm not usually a fan of pea and ham soup but yours looks too good to pass up. That hunk of ham in the middle is calling my name.
Sara (Belly Rumbles)
I like your 'fresher' take on this soup. I am NOT a pea & ham soup fan, but it is funny what happens when you have kids, and the kid I refer to says "mum my favourite soup is pea and ham". (Sara grumbles). So once a year I make a traditional P&H soup.
I love the fact you have used frozen green peas instead or dried. My brain has automatically gone 'oooooo', and can mentally taste the difference.