ANDERSEN SPLIT PEA SOUP WITH BACON

A lot of us will have a beautiful ham bone left over from our Easter meal. Split pea soup is the perfect way to use that scraggly scrap of meat. Those of you that have traveled through the valley in California will remember the billboards advertising Anderson’s. As a child the cartoon characters of two guy s splitting a pea was a welcome site on the long road. Anderson’s served mainly travelers on the busy interstate. Their specialty was serving down home meals and their famous split pea soup. We stopped there recently and bought a gift bag of split peas. This will be perfect for our leftover ham bone.

Anderson Split Pea Soup

• 2 cups split peas
• 1 stalk of celery chopped
• 1 large carrot chopped
• 1 onion chopped
• ¼ tsp thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste
• pinch of cayenne

Sort through peas and remove any dirt or stones; rinse. Combine all ingredients with 2 quarts of water. Simmer for about 11/2 hour or until peas are cooked. Run mixture through a food mill. Season to taste.

This is the basic recipe provided by our gift bag of split peas. Since we have a ham bone, let's use it. Put this in the soup mix. When the peas are tender remove the bone. If there is any remaining ham, chop it and return it to the soup. I like to keep my soup rustic and skip the food mill process. I also have to have some bacon the best bacon I have available. I crisp up a cup of cubed bacon and reserve to add at the end. I use some of the leftover love (fat) and briefly saute the vegetables before adding the water. Another ingredient I feel is necessary is a teaspoon of cumin. It adds that little earthy flavor component. Of course feel free to add or subtract any ingredient to make this soup your own.

Split pea soup is a comforting bowl of nostalgia for me. I have to admit I did pick up a can of the “Original w/bacon) from the gift shop too. Anderson's also sells a fairly decent hot house hot sauce. I do not really have fond memories of the long interstate trip but the billboards of Anderson’s made it a little more fun. I do love split pea soup. Ham bones and split pea soup just seem to go together. Enjoy.