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Rootitoot Ham and Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
| 2 tbsp | 30 ml | butter or olive oil |
| 2.5 cup | 600 ml | diced ham |
| 1.5 cup | 360 ml | chopped onions |
| 0.75 cup | 180 ml | diced celery |
| 0.75 cup | 180 ml | diced carrots |
| 3 clove | | garlic, finely chopped |
| 6 cup | 1.4 l | chicken broth and/or water |
| 0.5 tsp | 2.5 ml | pepper |
| 0.25 tsp | 1.3 ml | thyme |
| 2 | | bay leaves |
| — | | ham bone or ham hock (optional) |
| 1 lb | 455 g | green or yellow split peas, rinsed |
Instructions
- Press the Sauté button and when the display says Hot, add the butter/oil and swirl it around to coat the bottom. Add the diced ham and sauté for a few minutes, stirring frequently until nicely browned. This step really adds a lot of flavor.
- Press Cancel and then press Sauté a few times until the display says Normal. (Pressing Sauté several times toggles it through its heat settings: Less, Normal and More.) Add onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are softened, about 3 or 4 minutes. Add garlic for the last minute and then hit Cancel.
- Add the broth/water. Stir well to thoroughly deglaze the pan: get any brown bits off the bottom and into the liquid. Do a good job of this. If you leave any brown bits stuck to the pan, the Instant Pot may interpret it as burning food and it will give you the dreaded "Burn" warning and shut down. So, yeah.... deglaze the pot.
- There's no salt in this recipe because the ham is salty. You can add it after it's done if it needs it. Stir in the pepper, thyme, bay leaves, ham bone or hock, if using, and the split peas. Close the lid. Make sure the valve is set to Sealing and push Pressure Cook (or Manual). Adjust time using the + and - buttons to get to 15 minutes. When it beeps that it's done, just leave it for a full natural release (NR). This will take from 15 – 20 minutes.
- When the pin drops, open the lid and remove the bay leaves. If you added a ham bone or hock, remove it and remove the meat and add it to the soup. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. Garnish with the reserved ham chunks and some croutons and enjoy this "sticks to the ribs" favorite.
