Given the fact that it is apparently the season of never-ending winter up in these parts, some soup seemed like just the thing.  This one really could not be easier – not that any soup is hard.  Split pea!  With beer!  And sausage!

What you will need:

1 bag of split green peas, rinsed and picked over

3ish carrots, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 potatoes, chopped, bite size

package of ham hocks

1 bottle of beer – medium ale works best, I think

smoked sausage – I used smoked turkey keilbasa – chopped bite size

water

ground cloves

thyme

a spoonful of coarse dijon

couple of bay leaves

Chop the carrots and celery – if you want to add some onion, feel free.  Soften them in some butter, 3-4 tablespoons in your soup pot, maybe 5 minutes.  Add the peas, beer, 6 cups of water, ham hocks, mustard, pinch of ground cloves, and bay leaves. Bring to simmer, cover and simmer for about an hour.   Meat on the hocks will be nearly tender – you can remove them and shred the meat back in the soup if you like.  Add the potatoes and sausage.  Simmer another 30 min to hour, depending on if you like your soup chunky or smoother.  Salt and pepper. If you are especially ambitious, you can add a splash of apple cider vinegar.  We usually eat this with biscuits and jam, but cheesy biscuits would be good too.

A few things of note:  I don’t chop this stuff too small, since it gets smaller on cooking and I like a chunkier finished product.  Totally up to you.  And if you like it thicker, leave the lid off.  Or thinner, add more water.  It’s pretty hard to screw up!  Enjoy!