Split pea soup

This is a very traditional Dutch winter soup, "erwtensoep or snert". Pittsburgh based Lindy has made this soup -or one very similar- She pried the recipe for it out of a novel, and asked me to post my own to see if it differs much, turns out that it doesn't! Read her recipe here. I'd like to send this recipe on a virtual tour with The Savory Notebook: Virtual Recipe Club - A Weekly Event? who is hosting a weekly/monthly recipe club, this weeks theme: soup.
You'll need:
500 grams split peas
ca. 500 gr. pork: ribs, chops, pigs feet (Not me I don’t!)
2-3 large potatoes
3 leeks
parsley and celery each a handfull
2 onions
2-3 large carrots
better half of a medium celeriac
2 bay leaves
3 liters of water
P&S (a lot!)
Rookworst (smoked pork sausage), perhaps some salted pork...

Chop up most of the vegetables fairly small but keep a bit of every vegetable in larger cubes for adding the last 15-20 minutes. The vegetables dissolve and thus add flavour to the soup, but I like to have some recognizable bits of colour and bite in the endproduct. I’m a bit apprehensive about smoked meat, the flavour can be very prominent and I like it to be lingering in the background, so I add the smoked pork sausage at the very end. I know a lot of people add salt pork too, my mom does but I have some issues with smoked and/or salted pork. (Pregnant with twins, making this soup, the pork…trust me you don’t want to know).
Anyway, Peas and meat (except the sausage) in the largest souppot you have (thick bottom), with 3 litres of cold water and the bayleaves. Bring to a boil, use a slotted spoon to clear the surface of any foam. Cover and lower the heat, cook for an hour, stir every once in a while. Add the vegetables, simmer for another hour, stirring every so often. Uncover the pan and simmer for another hour, keep stirring and scrape that bottom!.

By now the meat can be taken out so you can clean the bones and cut up the meat, icky bits out of the way, (brrr childhood memories of a spoonful of soup and biting into something that goes boiing between your teeth, or worse: tries to escape your teeth……my mom is all about not wasting any “good” bits of meat..woohaa) and put the meat back in the pot. Slice the sausage and add the rest of the vegetables. Simmer for about 30 minutes more. Add salt and pepper and parsley to taste. This velvety soup needs quite a bit of salt and pepper, unless you used a slice of salted pork.

Let cool. As it cools, it firms up so that a spoon will stand up straight.. This is the part where my kids like to join in.”Can I test it now? No let me.." squabble, argument, bicker and within minutes there are… three spoons standing….
Best eaten the next day! For reheating I recommend using the microwave so you won't risk a burnt taste and please refrigerate or freeze!




"Snert" with "katenspek" on pumpernickel.