Here are a few things I know to be true: Split pea soup is never going to win the Winter Olympics. Its signature mushy pea-green color will never be considered fashionable by anyone but the unfashionable types like me. If you know people who stand up and cheer when they hear that split pea soup is for dinner then you know some awesomely rare unicorn people I’d like to have over for dinner more often. You could argue that split pea soup doesn’t help its case with its ahem mushy texture that usually hardens into a brick in the fridge overnight which is why it surprised me as much as it did when I made it—along with this black bread—in this food diary I kept for Grub Street last week when so many people asked me for the recipe.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
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 Natashas Kitchen | 2024-01-05 16:30:06 |  147,915 Views |
Mom's Pea Soup: The Ultimate Soup for Warmth and Comfort!
I had been eating split pea soup for at least half my life before I realized that it wasn’t traditionally a vegetarian soup. Growing up my mother made it from supermarket tubes that came with dried peas and a spice bag and I thought the result was impeccable. The fact that it was usually from Manischewitz probably explained the absence of ham hocks but I don’t like to jump to conclusions or anything.
The times I’ve made it with ham hocks I haven’t found it to be life-changing. For me it didn’t add enough to change my usual approach—a solid enough filter for any new recipe decision you might say—which is a pile of veggies and aromatic broth and split peas cooked until tender and then pureed in whole or in part and generally if we’re being completely honest here quickly dismissed by most people in my family for all the reasons listed above.
But I think this most recent version has some merit. Many vegetarian split pea soups add potatoes for bulk but I find that this only further dampens the flavor of a muted soup. Instead I replaced my usual chopped onion with some thinly sliced leeks and loved the results. I kept the carrots and celery but when I went to puree the soup I somehow realized for the first time that maybe I didn’t need to do that at all? Peas naturally split in soup so the texture was already semi-smooth; why would I want to bulk it up any further? I then tried three different finishes. No I’m not suggesting you finish this soup three ways I just couldn’t decide. The first was a green sauce with parsley lemon and garlic essentially a vegetarian gremolata that usually also includes anchovies. (A salsa verde would be great here too.) And then a dollop of sour cream. Finally since I said I didn’t like ham in the soup but didn’t say anything about topping it we added a little crispy bacon chopped into small pieces but I also like it with croutons (or Gruyere or these darlings) if you want to keep it meatless. One or even two of these toppings really elevate the soup so choose your own adventure.
