French American Pea Soup

Submitted by Blanket Girl

"Why make it in the crockpot when the stove-top version tastes great with so little effort? This is very rich, a recipe that makes people ask what's cooking! With the smells of bacon, herbs, and simmering vegetables in your kitchen, everyone will enjoy this comfort food at it's best. The sour cream, chives, and hot sauce garnish take plain pea soup to a more elegant level, too."

 

• Ready In: 17mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 1⁄2 lb bacon
• 10 baby carrots, chopped
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 lb split peas, sorted and rinsed
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 7 cups water
• 2 bay leaves
• salt
• sour cream
• Tabasco sauce or hot sauce, of choice
• fresh chives, chopped

directions

1. In a very large, deep saucepan cook the bacon till it's done enough to crumble a little, (about 15 minutes over medium heat).
2. Remove bacon, break or chop it up coarsely and set aside.
3. Add the carrots, onion, thyme, and bay leaves to the pan toss to coat with pan drippings that remained from the bacon cooking.
4. Cook 5 mintues over med-high heat.
5. Add split peas and cooked bacon, stir well and cook another 5 minutes.
6. Add 8 cups of water and bring just to a high boil, then reduce heat and simmer.
7. When the peas have absorbed about half the water, add salt to taste (the taste of the mixture at this point will be an accurate indicator of how salty the final product will be).
8. Continue to simmer until the peas are very, very soft and almost all the water has been absorbed;Any water left should be the color of the peas, and thickened.
9. Stir and check often to ensure the bottom does not burn, especially toward the end of cook time.
10. If you like a smoother soup, you may choose to puree the mixture a bit with hand mixer before serving.
11. Remove bay leaves and place soup in bowls. Garnish each with a dollop of sour cream, a couple splashes of hot sauce, and chives.
12. Enjoy with crusty french or dark rye bread.

Reviews

[mianbao]

This soup is SO good! I'm very glad I decided to try it. My package of split peas contained 300 g, so I scaled the recipe by 2/3. I expected to have a bunch in the fridge to eat later, but now I'm not so sure. It's disappearing fast. Thank you very much for this superlative recipe.

 

[ElleFirebrand]

Excellent. The bacon adds great flavor and texture to the usual boring pea soup. Didn't have chives or sour cream so melted some american cheese on top and seasoned with chipotle Tabasco. Yum.