French-Canadian Split-Pea Soup Recipe

There are many variations on how to make pea soup, and French-Canadian pea soup is one of them. You can use either green or yellow peas for the following recipe. The traditional Quebec version calls for yellow peas. I just use what I have, as they both taste the same to me.

• Hambone with a bit of meat left on it
• 2 onions, diced
• 3 cups of green or yellow or green split peas, rinsed
• 10 cups of water
• 3 tablespoons dehydrated chicken broth
• 2 shakes of fine sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 4 –5 garlic cloves, pressed

1. Place the hambone in a soup pot, and add water, and bring to a boil.
2. Set burner to medium heat and let the bone cook for about ½ hour.
3. Remove the bone and cut the meat off. Chop the meat into bite-sized pieces.
4. Add onions, split peas, hambone, and chopped ham into the water.
5. Add salt, pepper, and chicken broth, and stir. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium and cook for 60 - 90 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. In the last 15 minutes of cooking, remove the bone, add the pressed garlic cloves, and stir.
7. Serve with thick slices of French bread and a salad or eat all on its own. ENJOY!

• I prefer to use the boxed chicken broth, but today I was out of it so I used the dehydrated. If you do use the boxed or canned broth, just decrease the amount of water that you use.
• This soup freezes really well and many times, I will double the amount I make so that I have soup on hand for boxed lunches. Ziploc bags work great for this and you can pre-measure how much soup you want to reheat for a lunch or to put into a thermos.
• Sometimes I will add chopped carrots to the soup while it is cooking.