50 new recipes: Split pea soup

[ninevirtues]

Viked from lwood ...

Ingredients
1.5 c green split peas, sorted and rinsed
3 qt low-sodium vegetable broth*
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
2 ribs celery, coarsely chopped
1 ham shank, including the bone, cut into 4-6 large pieces†
2 pinches cayenne pepper
1/2 t dried thyme
3 md bay leaves
salt and black pepper to taste


Directions

Sort and rinse peas. Add all ingredients to large Dutch oven and bring to a boil. Boil for twenty minutes, or until peas are cooked through, then reduce to a simmer. Fish out bay leaves and discard. Fish out ham shank, discard bone and dice meat.

Purée soup by any means necessary: food mill, sieve, blender, or so on. I like stick blender, myself, and I don't run my soup to baby food, either.

Serve immediately with diced ham, rye bread, rye crackers, cheese, and, apparently, mustard.

* - In the original, this is water.
† - The original soup is vegan.