Home cooking: Soupe du jour- la soupe aux pois verts

Our soupe du jour during the coronavirus pandemic sheltering included a post Easter holiday “la soupe aux pois verts”.

Easter ham bone green pea soup

Green pea soup is a post Easter ham tradition.

Preparing la soupe du jour has become our creative cuisine during home meal planning because the ingredients in almost any soup are nutritious and requires using just small amounts of a variety of vegetables and starches. In other words, using small amounts of a lot of different ingredients are an efficient way to consume almost anything in the family’s refrigerator.  For example, I often prepare chicken noodle or rice soup with leftover deli chicken. There are dozens of recipes to try, found on line, using small amounts of chicken and ordinary, inexpensive, vegetables. Soupe du jour gives us a healthy boost of nutrients and prevents discarding small amounts of ingredients that are inevitably accumulating at the back of our refrigerators.

L’Heureux family Easter ham inevitably becomes la soupe aux pois verts (green pea soup). This famiy recipe has been home kitchen tested for dozens of years.

Ingredients in L'Heureux green pea soup recipe

Ingredients prepared for the addition of 6 cups of water and seasonings before simmering until the peas are thorougly cooked and soft.

Easter ham bone green pea soup recipe:

Trim the ham bone. Reserve diced meat from the bone to create other recipes or to add to the soup, while it is simmering.

2/3 of the 16 ounce bag of split dried green peas (the more peas used, the thicker the soup and, likewise, fewer will create a thinner soup)

6 cups of water

One medium onion- diced

2-3 cloves of diced garlic

1 diced carrot

1 diced stalk of celery including green leaves (hint, this is a good way to use slightly wilted celery)

1 diced small potato

1 ½ Tablespoon butter

¼ teaspoon celery salt (or ordinary table salt)

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Saute:  Melt the butter over medium high heat (careful to avoid burning) in a large soup pot big enough to hold the ham bone. Add the diced garlic, onion, carrot, celery and potato to the butter. Toss the ingredients in the sauté to coat them with the butter.  Saute until the onions are translucent, about 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add the ham bone to the pot, add the dried split green peas, and the 6 cups of water with salt and pepper. Bring the ingredients to a boil, and then reduce the heat to low and allow for it to simmer for at least one hour, until the peas are thoroughly cooked.  Remove the ham bone and any pieces of fat that may have melted into the soup.

Leave in the broth the pieces of ham that were trimmed from the bone.

Taste for seasonings. Allow the soup to rest for about 10 minutes before serving.  This recipe is easy and tastes good as a leftover “soupe du jour”.

Bon appétit!

Juliana L'Heureux

About Juliana L'Heureux

Juliana L’Heureux is a free lance writer who publishes news, blogs and articles about Franco-Americans and the French culture. She has written about the culture in weekly and bi-weekly articles, for the past 30 years.