First Spring crop of sweet English peas turned into a light and creamy soup with smoky ham. This is my skinny version as I omitted cream as well as butter. You can enjoy two bowls of this creamy Pea Soup with Ham.
We hate canned peas. We hate over cooked peas. We LOVE fresh, crisp and sweet English peas. I can always tell when Spring has officially arrived as I find English peas, favas and sweet strawberries in the market. Laudalino and I both love split pea soup but at times it can get clumpy and gooey; not when you use fresh sweet peas! I had intentionally saved some of the ham just for this soup recipe. As we are big texture people, this particular recipe only purees half of the peas and the remainder is added along with the ham right before serving.
This recipe is simple and fast and the end result is very good!
Pea Soup with Ham
* serves 4
Ingredients:
3 cups of fresh shelled English peas
1 cup of the pods from the peas – picked over, use the ones that are near perfect, remove the ends.
1 shallot, cut in half
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups of good chicken stock or veggie stock
kosher salt
fresh cracked pepper
1 cup ham, cubed
How To:
Heat olive oil in a large pot, and add garlic, pods, and shallot. Cook for about 3 minutes.
Add 2 cups of the fresh peas and the stock.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cook for 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and puree until smooth in a blender or food processor. Return to pan, add the remainder of the peas and the ham.
Return to heat and warm for about 5 minutes.
Serve.
Eat.
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