Wil's family is from Holland, and they make a Dutch green pea soup, while I am French Canadian, and make yellow pea soup - in fact I still LOVE the canned 'Habitant Pea Soup' that my dad used to buy. Here is a variation of Wil's soup, Ertwen is the Dutch name.
What you need: about 3 litres of water; a leftover ham bone*, with lots of meat on it, and all the pan drippings from the ham; 1 medium onion; 2 carrots; 1 rib of celery; 3 bags of dried split green peas; about a kg of Farmers sausage - or any cooked sausage you like; salt and pepper to taste; 1 tbs garlic powder, 1 tsp celery seed; 1/2 tsp ground marjoram; and 1-2 tbs dried chervil or parsley leaves.
* If you use a ham which has been glazed with a sugar mix, your soup will have a sweet/salty taste. I usually use a ham baked without sweet glaze - as Wil is not fond of sweet sauces on meat. It can have cloves or garlic mustard sauce.
What you do: Put the ham bone, along with any pan drippings from the baked ham, into a large soup kettle and cover with water, bring to a boil and let simmer for an hour or so. Remove the bone, and add the peas to the water. Let cook 2 - 3 hours. Meanwhile cut all the meat - usually about 500 gr- from the bone and chop into small pieces. Add to the kettle. Peel and finely chop the onion. Peel and shred the carrots. Finely slice, or dice, the celery stalk. Add all the veggies with all the seasonings to the soup, and keep simmering until the peas are completely dissolved. Takes at least 8 hours or can be left on lowest heat overnight. Chop the sausage and add to the soup. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Let simmer for one more hour before serving.
Serve hot with fresh baked biscuits or thick slices of fresh bread. Enjoy.
This usually makes a really thick soup, which is solid when cooled. If you like your soup more runny, just use 2 bags of dried peas.
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