Andersen’s Split Pea Soup - Copycat

Submitted by kmergirl

"Anderson? Yeah, I’m talking about Anderson’s Pea Soup in Buellton,California off Highway 101 very close to the “Dutchtown” of Solvang. Anyone who’s ever driven on a long trip up the 5 or 101 freeways in California HAS to have seen these billboard signs seemingly in the middle of nowhere proclaiming: “Try Anderson’s Split Pea Soup, only 227 miles!”. I don’t actually have a picture of one of the signs but I plan to take one next time I drive up north. This is some marketing genius who thought of this. There is absolutely nothing to do while driving up these long stretches of highway, but look at the scenery. So they just buy up some cheap ad billboard space in 50 mile increments or so and plop their signs down advertising how far it is to their Pea Soup Headquarters. I’d like to know how successful they are in getting people to think about Pea Soup… I know it’s certainly worked on me! I recently decided to make use of the extra ham and ham hock bones that are inevitably left over from Sunday dinner. I’ve never tried to make Split Pea Soup so I stopped by the market and picked up a few bags."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 10mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 226.79 g dried split green peas
• 946.36-1419.54 ml chicken stock
• 2 ham hocks
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 7.39 ml oil
• salt, pepper to taste

directions

1. Wash and drain the dried peas. Watch out for tiny ROCKS in the peas… the occur every so often and can break your teeth if left in! If you’d like to, cut off the ham from the bones, cube it and set aside. Some people leave it on and then cut it off after cooking, but cutting it off before will decrease the saltiness of the soup.
2. Heat up the oil in a large pot, add the onion, celery, and carrot. Cook over medium heat until softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute more.
3. Add the chicken stock, peas, ham bones, bay leaf, and bring to a boil. Cook half covered over low heat for about 1 to 1.5 hours stirring occasionally. When you get near the end of cooking, you can add the cubed ham. Add salt and pepper to taste. Delicious split pea soup is now ready!