Split Pea Soup

I have never made split pea soup before today. In fact, I can only remember a handful of times I've ever ate it. I know my mom used to make it when I was little and it was the only way my brother would eat a vegetable other than corn and mashed potatoes.

My husband requested it before Christmas so I started searching different recipes on how to make it. Ended up, it was a great use for the Christmas ham and bone. For this version, I took bits and pieces from different recipes, along with the suggestions from a friend of ours (who swears he is a connoisseur of split pea soup) and got what I think is a really good soup.

Keep in mind, salt and spices are added "to taste." So what I like may be different than what you do. Play around with the seasoning and make it your own. You may come up with something better than I did!

1 Ham bone plus about 2 cups of solid ham meat (uncut)
Water to cover bone
3 tsp dried thyme

2 1/3 cups dried split peas (16oz package)

5 carrots, large chop
1 baking potato, large chop
3 stalks celery, large chop
1/2 yellow onion, large chop
6 whole cloves garlic
2 tsp dried tarragon leaves
2 tsp dried thyme leaves
olive oil

2-3 tsp cayenne pepper, to taste
2 tbs butter
salt, to taste
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375°

In a large stockpot with lid, place ham bone and ham and cover with enough water to go about 2" over. Add thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until any meat on bone falls off and uncut ham shreds easily, 2-3 hours. Remove from pot and set to side.

Add peas to pot and simmer until tender, about 1 hour. In the meantime, add all vegetables, herbs and olive oil to a roasting pan or casserole. Roast in oven until carrots and potato are tender, about 1 hour. Remove from oven, let cool and then chop to smaller size. Chop reserved ham meat into bite size pieces. Add vegetables and ham to peas. Cover and simmer until peas have almost dissolved and soup has thickened. Add cayenne, butter, salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.