Vendors in the streets of Athens were selling hot pea soup five hundred years before Christ. This version is rustic as there’s no blending involved, the pea texture remains along with fall apart chunks of smoked ham hock. Add fried crispy croûtons for crunch and fresh mint garnish for freshness.
Chop the onion finely.
Chop the celery into small dice.
Add the butter to a soup pot.
Add the onion, celery and grated garlic. Sweat on low heat.
Add the 6 cups of chicken stock.
Add the 6 cups of tap or filtered water.
To a mixing bowl, fill half with fresh water and add your split peas. Mix to wash out impurities.
Strain and add washed peas to soup pot.
Roughly cut three quarters of your ham hock and add to soup.
Add the bay leaf.
Season to taste (approx. on tbs salt) and some crushed pepper.
Leave uncovered simmering for 90 minutes on a very low gentle heat.
Give it a stir every 15 minutes to avoid it sticking to the bottom.
Once cooked, give it a vigorous mix using a whisk to breakdown all the peas.
Remove bay leaf. Make sure heat is turned off.
Slice bread into cubes.
Slice remainder of ham hock into thin slices.
Add olive oil to a hot frying pan, add your croutons until slightly crispy (taste one).
Add the remainder of ham hock and continue to fry until croutons are very crispy.
Slice a few fresh mint leaves very finely.
Serve your pea and ham soup and garnish it with the croutons/ham hock.
Top with the mint leaves.
You can also use a whole ham hock, just poach it in the soup for 30 minutes, remove, let cool and cut away the meat. Add it to the soup 5 minutes before end of cooking time.
By Joel Mielle
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