Split Pea Soup with Ham - Video Recipe

My hearty Green Split Pea Soup with a leftover ham bone will have you coming back for seconds...and thirds! Be sure to check out my recipe video below to see what I mean.

I was never a fan of Split Pea Soup as a kid because it was usually served from a Campbell's soup can. It's much better when you can control the seasoning and fresh veggie additions yourself. And it doesn't hurt to have tender chunks of ham mixed into the soup.

I always get a large cooked half-ham during Easter week, because that's when it's cheapest. Cooked ham freezes well, so the first thing I do is slice it into single servings and reserve the ham bone. Meat closest to the bone is difficult to remove, so just leave it on. Once the ham bone is simmering in the pea soup for an hour it will easily peel off.

All the other ingredients are cheap too, like onion, celery, carrot and garlic. Of course, you can keep this pea soup vegetarian by leaving out the ham. Just substitute some water with a cup or two of your favorite veggie stock, for extra flavor.

I use cheap dried green peas from my local 99c only Store for this recipe. I've also seen yellow peas that you can cook the same way.

What I like about dried green peas is how quick they cook. It only takes about an hour to become a thick creamy soup. Other dried legumes like pinto, navy or black beans take 3 to 4 hours of slow simmering. Green Pea Soup with Ham is almost instant gratification.

My Green Pea Soup with Ham is easy to do, it just takes a little veggie chopping. It's the kind of one pot meal that's even better the next day, and you can freeze a few servings, too.

So give my latest cheapskate recipe a try, just check out my simply delicious video below, and leave a comment if you like it!

Split Pea Soup with Ham  - VIDEO

 Play it here, video runs 3 minutes, 36 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Ingredients (4-6 servings)

• 1 pound dried green split peas - about 2 cups. Rinse and check for discolored ones or any small foreign object.
• 1 ham bone - leftover from a whole ham. Okay to use a ham hock, a thick ham slice or a couple slices of bacon (saute bacon and pour off some of the fat.)
• 1 onion - chopped, about 2 cups.
• 1 stalk celery - chopped, about 1/2 cup. I cut off a bit of discolored tough root end. I also remove some of the strings on the topside of celery stalk. You can remove strings with a knife or a potato peeler - don't worry about removing them all.
• 1 carrot - chopped, about 1 cup.
• 1 teaspoon garlic - chopped. Fresh, dried or from a jar.
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• Black pepper to taste - ham has enough salt for me. Add salt if you are going vegetarian.
  
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil - to saute veggies.
• 8 cups of water - for cooking pea soup. For vegetarian, substitute some water with veggie broth.

Directions
Chop 1 whole onion, about 2 cups when chopped. One clove of garlic (about a teaspoon chopped.)

Peel whole carrot and chop, about 1 cup. Okay to use shredded carrot or baby carrots.

Use a whole stalk of celery, chopped. I include the green leaves, if attached. Remove the tip of the white or yellowed end attached to the root.

Click on any photo to see larger.

Add a tablespoon of oil to a large soup pot. Add carrot, onion and celery. Saute over medium heat about 5 minutes to soften.

Next add chopped garlic and saute another minute.

Now add dried herbs to sauteed veggies. Sprinkle in a teaspoon of thyme and one whole bay leaf.

Season with black pepper to taste. I leave out salt, since ham, ham hock, or bacon are salty enough for me. You can add a little more salt if you need to, or if you are making this soup vegetarian.

Now time to bring it all together. While veggies are sauteing go through dried green peas to remove any debris. I hardly ever find any.

Add dried green peas. Pour in 8 cups of water. If you are keeping it vegetarian, then replace some of the water with vegetable stock, for extra flavor.

Add a ham bone, ham hock, or a few slices of cooked bacon (include some of the bacon grease, too!)

Mix well, increase the heat and bring soup to a boil. When boiling, reduce heat to a low simmer and cover the soup pot.

Cook covered for an hour, until the peas are fall-apart tender. Green peas will turn to a thick sauce, and that's okay.

Remove ham bone or ham hock. Allow to cool for a few minutes, while peas cook uncovered. Finally, remove meat and add back into the soup. Stir a final time, and reheat the ham pieces for a few more minutes.

Soul Food-Style Black-eyed Peas with Ham - Video Recipe

The most flavorful pot of beans you'll ever cook up is featured in the Cheap$kate Chef's latest stop motion animated video recipe.

Call it Southern-style, Low Country, or Soul Food, and by adding a ham hock or a leftover ham bone, you raise a humble pot of beans to a whole other flavor profile. If you are cheap like me then you froze the ham bone from that less-than-a-dollar per pound holiday Shank Half Ham.

And for the upcoming New Year's Day Celebration, my Black-eyed Peas just need some rice to make the Southern traditional Hoppin' Johns. You can cook some rice (about 20 minutes of simmering, covered) with the finished Black-eyed Peas or steam the rice separately and add the Black-eyed Peas when you are ready to celebrate.

You'll be surprised by all the ham you can pull off the bone, after it has simmered in the pot of beans for a couple of hours. Just watch my latest recipe video of Soul Food-Style Black-eyed Peas with Ham to see what I mean.

Cooking with leftover smoked pork is how they do it in the South, heck, I'm sure that's how they do it everywhere. (If you don't have a leftover ham bone or ham hock, it's okay to use a few slices of bacon or any cheap smoked pork or turkey meat, like: neck bones, tail, leg and wing.)

This recipe can be applied to most any type of dried beans: black, white, red, pinto, lima, green pea, lentil, etc. Only the cooking time will vary -- beans like pinto and black beans need 3 to 4 hours, while lentils cook through in half an hour. Make sure to read the package directions for cooking times.

Surprisingly Black-eyed Peas are more expensive than the average legume, over a dollar and a half per pound -- at least in Los Angeles grocery stores. Maybe they are cheaper in the South? Well, I got mine with a dollar coupon from Ralphs, so my recipe hits all my cheap$kate price points. Even at full price you'll get half a dozen servings, so it's still a tasty budget recipe. I also used an onion, one bay leaf, and some chopped garlic -- all inexpensive ingredients.

My friend, Miss Patti, showed me how to make Cajun-Style Vegetarian Red Beans. So if you are meat averse, then click here to see that video recipe post, so you make Black-eyed Peas your way.

For your next homemade pot of beans on a cold winter day, go with The 99 Cent Chef's smoked pork addition -- you'll drive your household crazy with the tantalizing aroma that comes with slow cooking Soul Food-Style Black-eyed Peas with Ham.

Blackeyed Peas with Ham - VIDEO

Play it here, video runs 2 minutes, 21 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

• Ingredients (about 6 servings)
  
• 1 pound dried black-eyed peas
• 1 leftover ham bone or ham hock - You are going for the smoked pork flavor. Okay to use 4 slices of bacon cut into 1 inch pieces. You can brown the bacon first and add the amount of bacon fat you feel comfortable with. Also, okay to use a small ham steak cut into cubes, or any cheap smoked meat.
• 1 whole large onion - or 2 small onions, white or yellow.
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic - fresh or from jar.
• 1 stalk celery - optional
• 8 cups of water - add more if needed during cooking.
• Salt and pepper to taste - or any favorite seasoned salt, like Creole Seasoning.

Directions

Check black-eyed peas for pebbles or discolored peas and discard. Rinse off back-eyed peas.

Add black-eyed peas and  ham bone, ham hock, or bacon, to a large pot with 8 cups of water.

Chop onion and celery into 1 inch pieces. Add to pot of peas. Season with salt and pepper or Cajun Seasoning.

Bring the pot of peas to a boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer. Cover pot and cook about 2 hours. Check and stir every half hour or so. (Add water should it cook out, for whatever reason.)

Black-eyed Peas should be tender. Remove ham bone or ham hock (no need to take out bacon) and peel off the meat. Add the ham pieces back to the pot, mix well, and low simmer uncovered another half hour.

That's it. Pretty simple to make and you can use this recipe for any of your favorite dried legumes, including: red, white or black beans, pinto, lentils and green peas. Cooking time will vary as some beans need 3 to 4 hours of low simmering. Dried lentils cook the fastest - about 30 minutes.

Hindsight

For vegetarian black-eyed peas, click here for Miss Patti's Red Beans recipe. Basically you're adding chopped veggies like: bell pepper, celery, onions, and green onions. To get a slightly smoky ham hock flavor, try adding half a teaspoon of liquid smoke from a bottle