Soup Solo
Erwtensoep is a very hearty pea soup and a Dutch specialty. Last year my mother-in-law, M, showed me how to make this delicious recipe, and over the weekend I decided to try it solo. The results earned me two thumbs-up from her… high praise, indeed.
For those of you who might want to give it a try, here is M’s recipe:
2-3 pork chops (with bone in)
Salt and pepper
1 lb of split green peas
3 leeks, light green chopped
3-4 celery stalks with the greens on top, chopped
1 bunch of Italian parsley, chopped
2-3 carrots, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 potato, peeled and chopped
Sprinkle salt and pepper on pork chops and rub into the meat. Place pork chops (with bone) in the bottom of a large soup pot and add all of the chopped veggies, except the potato, on top of the meat. Pour water over the veggies up to the rim of the pot. Cover and cook for 3-4 hours (stirring occasionally). Add the potato to thicken it up.
By now the pork chops will have cooked down, so scoop them out and place in a colander. Hold the colander over the pot and pour a little water over the pork chops to wash the soup back into the pot and expose the bone from the pork chops. Remove the bones and return the remaining meat back to the pot and cook for another couple of hours, for a total of 6 +/- hours (stirring occasionally).
M also cooks a sausage (such as a smoked pork or beef sausage) separately, chops it up, and adds it to the soup at the very end.
Tree Fishing 