DUTCH PEA SOUP

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THE TEMPERATURE TO DROP so I can actually stand turning on the stove but I couldn't wait any longer and made pea soup tonight. 

When I lived in Holland (which was literally ages ago), I had a dear friend named Bep. She taught me how to speak Dutch and she also gave me quite a few pointers on how to cook real Dutch food. This included a dynamite split pea soup. She excelled at soups in general and Sunday dinners would always begin with a soup before the main event. Sometimes it was tomato soup with meatballs, or chicken vegetable soup with dumplings (or not), and in the winter, there would be - at least once - split pea soup. And there was a ton of it which lasted as the first course until at least Tuesday. The Dutch are frugal people and, like other Europeans, they never throw food away. It's the practical thing to do. 

The basic thrust of her soup remains in this recipe but there are a few tweaks that I've given it, which definitely makes this soup a complete meal (if you want). It is also unabashedly non-dietetic as you will see once you read this lengthy list of ingredients.

First of all, to best describe what I've done, let me just say that this soup has been in the planning stages for the past three days. I went to Fairway on Friday night and got most of the ingredients but due to the unseasonably warm and extremely muggy weather (as I mentioned before regarding my lady fingers), I decided to shop my freezer for a morsel or two to get things moving. I had a huge ham bone and two large containers of consomme (beef, veal and chicken) so I cooked the bone and a smoked pig's foot in the bouillon with more chicken stock.* I cooked this for about 6 hours and then turned the whole thing off let it cool overnight and removed the bones and the pig's foot. I removed all the meat from the foot and discarded all of those bones as well. Then, after refrigerating the stock for about 36 hours, I skimmed off all the fat to find a vat of truly gelatinous stock jiggling away in the pot. It may sound like overkill here, but, even though I already had consomme in the mix I decided to clarify the stock once more. What resulted was heaven on a spoon. I then cooled that and stored it in the fridge (the meat from the pig's foot too in a separate container). I had to wait until today to make the soup because it was still just too close outside to slave away over a stove.

Segue to today. Here is what we do:

To clarify stock

1 small chopped onion

1 carrot peeled and chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

1/2 lb. ground beef

2 tbs. chopped tarragon

6 black whole peppercorns

4 egg whites

Mix these ingredients together in a bowl and put them into the stock. Turn on the heat to moderately high and stir constantly to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom or sides of the pot.

When the water comes to the boil, you will see an amalgam of matter rising to the top and the liquid beginning to separate from the mass of egg whites. Stop stirring and lower the heat to a simmer. Do not disturb the liquid for any reason. Just let it simmer and produce small geezers or volcanoes of liquid. Regulate the heat, if necessary. Cook on the stove for about an hour. Turn off the heat and let rest for about 15 minutes. While the pot is resting, take two sieves and line the outer one with a wet paper towel or cheesecloth.

Gently pour the liquid into the sieve over a clean bowl or pot. There should be a clear and very rich broth with no residue or fat at all. This should yield anywhere from 12-16 cups of clear broth.

1 package dried green split peas

4 cups cold water

Soak the peas in a large bowl overnight to let soften.

When you are ready to make the soup you will need to assemble a mise en place so you can work quickly and ensure that nothing scorches or burns while you are cooking.

Place each of the ingredients below in separate bowls.

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup leek (white part only) sliced thin

2 cups very large carrots (large dice)

2 cups chopped celery

3 cloves garlic smashed and minced

1 tsp. thyme

Meat from the pig's foot, coarsely chopped

1/2 whole salt pork, diced

4 tbs. pork drippings

4 tbs. olive oil

Heat the oil and pork fat over moderately high heat. Add the salt pork and saute until somewhat crusty. Add the pig's feet, the garlic, onions, leeks and the celery. Lower heat to moderate and cover pan for about 5 minutes to sweat the vegetables and soften. Remove cover and turn up the heat somewhat and continue to cook until the vegetables are completely cooked. Add the thyme and then the split peas and the soaking liquid. Add the broth and the carrots. Stir well and  bring the soup to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook for about 5 hours, stirring occasionally. The soup should become very thick. Remove pan from stove, allow to cool and then refrigerate (covered) until you are ready to serve or serve immediately. This soup is almost always better the second or third day down the road.

Optional: If the soup doesn't thicken sufficiently, you can add diced potatoes and croutons if you like, when serving.

As you can see, this is not for the faint of heart! It is the type of soup that puts meat on your bones and is perfect for a cold winter's day.

*I boil chicken for Ludwig every week and therefore have vast quantities of available chicken stock in the fridge and freezer.