Split pea soup seems appropriate for the winter season & can be more of a dinner soup or stew, especially when potatoes, celery, & a lot of carrots are added.  Last year after Thanksgiving dinner, I was the beneficiary of a leftover hambone (long story), which prompted my first attempt at making Split Pea Soup.   The hambone still had meat on it & it fell off the bone as the soup was simmering in the crock pot.

A Crockpot, or slow cooker, is the essential tool for this recipe.  If you don’t have one, get one!  It is the easiest way to cook a fabulous meal.  Fill, then turn it on in the morning & you have a ready cooked dinner when you get home at night.  If possible, cook recipes on Low, however in making this soup I cooked it on High & it still turned out well.  Since it gets really hot, it is a good idea to let the soup cool a little before serving.  I have had my trusty crock pot for over 10 years.  Needless to say, it has some character, which can be seen in the Flickr slideshow below.

Recipe

I usually go to the Internet or to my Betty Crocker cookbook (a staple), to find a roadmap to follow when planning a recipe. I searched on Google for “crock pot split pea soup ham hocks“ & found a Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup recipe on About.com: Southern Food. I also checked out the Albertson’s Green Split Pea packaging for their recipe, morphed the two together, then added my own touches. Using a hambone is ideal, however ham hocks will do the job too & supply the soup with a salty pork flavor.  I decided to add diced ham (on sale too!) to the recipe, which was a plus since the ham hocks did not end up being very meaty.  I ran out of black pepper & substituted cayenne pepper, which seemed to work well with the peas & ham & added a nice kick to the dish.

Ingredients

• Green Split Peas (16 oz)
• Ham hocks (2)
• Red Potatoes (3)
• Carrots (3 – 4)
• Celery (2)
• Yellow Onion – small (1)
• Garlic – several cloves
• Fresh Basil – leaves (5 – 7)
• Cayenne Pepper (1/2 teaspoon)
• Sea Salt (to taste)
• Bay Leaf
• Water (1 ½ quarts or make sure H2O covers everything in the crock pot)
• Diced Ham (optional)

Process

• Clean out any small pebbles from the green split peas, then rinse.
• Cut the potatoes, carrots, celery, & onion into bite sized pieces. Mince garlic & chop basil.
• Layer the ingredients in the crock pot in the order listed above under Ingredients.
• Cook on High for 4 – 5 hours.
• Remove the ham hocks & the bay leaf.  Mash the peas, if you would like a thicker soup.
• Add the diced ham (optional) & turn the crock pot down to Low until ready to serve.