Boreegard Shares HIs Pea Soup Recipe

Ken Hawley Botchford prepared a steak dinner for his visiting brother Henry and assorted guests recently (huge 4 inch thick hunks of beef, grilled rare and slathered in butter), that prompted me to prepare split pea soup.  The Botchford steak was reminiscent of the annual Beefsteak dinners served at the Roxmor Inn down the valley road by the Miller family ever since the 1890's, which always featured (and still do) a first course of peas porridge hot, simmered all day in 2 industrial sized caldrons.

My intention was to approximate that marvelous soup, and I believe I did.  Here's how you might do it too.

o  Rinse 1 lb. of split peas and place in a large pot.
o  Cover with 10 cups of water.
o  Add the smoked pork ribs you'd liberated from the previous month's pig roast (or failing that, add a reasonable facsimile--several smoked ham hocks, or a hambone).
o  cover and simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours--stirring occasionally.

Then, add:

o 1 cup chopped onion.
o  1 cup chopped celery.
o  1 cup chopped carrots
o  1 large jalapeno pepper--cored, deseeded, and finely chopped.
o  2 large cloves of garlic--minced and chopped
o  1 bay leaf.

o  Simmer, covered, for 1/2 hour.
o  Remove bones, meat, bayleaf, and set aside.
o  Puree 1/2 of the soup in a food processor and return to pot.
o  Dice the meat and return to pot.  Stir until hot.
o  Add salt and pepper to taste (this is a very dull soup indeed without a bit of salt added).

SERVE.

Boreegard
August 14, 2012