Swedish Green Split Peas With Bacon

Engrossed's Note:

This is from "The Frugal Gourmet Celebrates Christmas". I made the entire "Swedish Winter Feast" for a past Christmas and it was wonderful! I'll post the other recipes next. The whole meal is: Swedish Corned Pork Roast, Swedish Sauerkraut, Swedish Green Split Peas with Bacon, Mashed Rutabaga, Turnip, and Potato & Sweet and Hot Mustard, served with Rye Bread. I expected not to like anything and ended up LOVING everything!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• ½ lb bacon , chopped
• 1 medium yellow onion , peeled and sliced
• 1 lb split peas , washed and soaked in 6 cups water for 6 hours-overnight
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter (1/2 cube)

Directions:

1. Brown the bacon in a frying pan. Remove the bacon and set aside. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of the fat. Add onion and saute until tender.
2. Drain peas and place in a 4 to 6 quart pot along with reserved bacon and sauteed onions. Add enough water to just cover the peas.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, about 1 1/2 hours, or until the water is absorbed and the peas are thick. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking and add more water if necessary.
4. Stir in salt and pepper to taste and the butter.

Reviews

[Mikekey]

Great bowl of "comfort food" on a dreary, wet day! Amazing how few ingredients can be so tasty! I usually only make split pea soup when I have leftover ham or some ham hocks, which isn't often. Now I can make it more often with bacon. I keep a large bag of pre-cooked, crumbled bacon in the freezer and that made this even easier. The only change I made was throwing in about 1/2 cup of diced carrots I needed to use. Great with homemade rye bread! Made for tag game at kittencalskitchen.com.

[MarraMamba]

This was delicious, i made it this morning, and when i came back to the store i lovely smell was waiting along with a great lunch. I will be freezing the rest, to use throughout winter. Another great thing about this, is that once made, it is a terrific base for expanding due to its simplicity. Also..pea soup is as good with dumplings as any stew is :)

[WI Cheesehead]

Pretty good. We salted the individual bowls. I was out of yellow, so used some vidalia and 2 shallots. I used the quick soak method: boil for 2 minutes, then cover and let sit for 1 hour. Then drain and proceed at step 2. I also added some chopped carrots and spinach for extra nutrition. I always blender my pea soup, so I added the bacon (what was left after kids sneaked most of it) at the end.