Friday, January 2, 2015

Gul Ærtesuppe (Split Pea Soup)

I'll admit it, I've been indulging, maybe a little too much?  Nah, just enough.

But with all the rich food, and well,  all the food that I've been making and eating and serving, I wanted a little comfort food.

So I made some Gul Ærtesuppe, my take on my mom's recipe for Split Pea soup.

Comfort food to the max.
Gul Ærtesuppe (Split Pea Soup)

I had a hambone from the ham I made for Christmas Eve, and decided to go ahead and simmer it in my crock pot for a few hours.
After it had simmered away, without any additions, just the water, I took it out, strained the soup, and placed the soup liquid into another pot.
I got about 10 cups of ham juice.   I'm so proud of myself, I actually measured it.

I put yellow split peas into the broth and let it simmer until the peas were soft.    While they were simmering away, I pulled a celery root aka celeriac, out of the fridge, peeled it, and cut it into fine dice.   I did the same with 4 small carrots and two shallots.

 One quick note about Celery Root or Celeriac. See the picture above, this is a piece of the peel from the Celeriac. 
I forgot to take a picture of the root before I started cutting the peel off.  It really doesn't look like something you would want to eat.   But if you can get past the exterior, the interior smells so wonderfully of celery.  It's kind of a concentrated celery flavour.   The interior should be a milky white, but the one I had was a little, well, almost past its prime, but still edible. 
Ingredients for Gul Ærtesuppe (Split Pea Soup)
   I would have used leeks but gee, the store didn't have any so I used shallots, as I wanted an oniony flavour, but not too much onion flavour. 
Added them all into the broth and peas and then put in a small bunch of thyme from the plant which resides on my office windowsill, and needs to be repotted, but it will have to wait.   I also added a bay leaf to the soup.   I hadn't tasted the soup yet at that point, but decided to give it a taste and then I added about 1/2 teaspoon salt, and a few grinds of fresh black pepper.
I simmered the soup for about another half hour, until the veggies were tender and then fished out the thyme and bay leaf.
Then I had fun.   I pulled out my immersion blender and blended it into a lovely creamy soup.   You can use a potato masher for this as well, or just leave the veggies whole.  Any way you want to eat this is just fine.   But I like having a mug of soup that I can sip on while I'm working.

  Gul Ærtesuppe (Split Pea Soup)
 

My soup came out really thick, but I like it thick.   If it's too thick for your taste, go ahead and thin it out with a little water.    Serve with a little ham on the side if you like, or do like me, a couple slices of my nice home made rye bread.
Lunch or dinner fit for a Dane.
Well for this Dane at least. 


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Gul Ærtesuppe (Split Pea Soup)

prep time: 15 MINScook time: 2 hourtotal time: 2 hours and 14 mins

INGREDIENTS:

  • 10 cups ham broth or low sodium chicken stock
  • 1 1/2- 2 cups yellow split peas
  • 1 celery root, or 3 stalks celery, chopped or diced
  • 4 small carrots,diced
  • 1-2 shallots, diced   (can also use the white parts of 2 leeks here, rinsed and diced or sliced)
  • 1 small bunch fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • salt and pepper to taste.
  • 1 teaspoon white or wine vinegar (opt.) To be added after dishing up the soup into the bowls.

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Place the broth or stock into a large pot, add the thyme, bay leaf and yellow split peas.   
  2. Simmer until the peas are tender and then add the vegetables, continue to cook until the vegetables are cooked through.   Stir it a couple of times throughout the cooking process, and when the vegetables are tender and cooked through, you can either mix it up with an immersion blender or mash the vegetables and peas together or just eat it as is.   
  3.  My dad always added a soup spoon of vinegar to his soup when he ate it , and I do the same.   The vinegar adds a nice piquant note to the soup, and also thickens it up.
All recipes and their respective images are either original or adapted and credited, and are all the sole property of Sid's Sea Palm Cooking © 2011-2020, with all rights reserved thereof.

This recipe and many more Danish Recipes are in my cookbook Hygge- Danish Food and Recipes Dansk Mad og Opskrifter til et Hyggeligt Hjemme, available on Amazon. Also available as an ebook.
Created using The Recipes Generator
Sidsel Munkholm - Author
Sidsel Munkholm - Author

Sid loves to cook, feed people and have fun in the kitchen. She shares her successes and the involuntary offerings she sometimes gives the kitchen goddess as well. And she's still looking for the mythical fairy to help her clean the kitchen after a marathon cooking session. Currently working on a cookbook showcasing the recipes from her Danish heritage.

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