Pea Soup with Smoked Meats

I never use 200 or 300 grams of meat. If I'm going to do it, I do it properly. That's why I have a whole kilogram. But if I write that you only need 300 grams, what do you do with the rest? Well, you can mince it and make meat pancakes or, for example, potato dumplings with meat, which you can find on our website. If you have pork, beef, chicken, or vegetable broth, or if you prefer to cook with just water - go ahead! Pork can be completely excluded. But if you still decide to follow the recipe, pour a liter of water into a pot, add the pork, one onion (I have a thin homemade one with the last layer of skin left), 80 grams of peeled carrots, and a celery stalk. Bring to a boil, add salt, and cook over very low heat until fully cooked. I used a pressure cooker and it was done in 25 minutes. I don't skim off the foam, I simply strain the broth through a sieve or a fine colander. This amount of ingredients was enough for me with a liter of water, but if you want a thinner soup, add as much as needed.

So, the meat is cooked, remove it, and slice the desired amount. If there is not much meat, slice it all. Strain the broth and discard the vegetables - they have already released all their flavor. Cut the cold smoked pork belly into small pieces. Peel and dice the onion and carrot. Heat a frying pan, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil (if your smoked pork belly is very fatty, you don't need oil), and sauté it over medium heat for a couple of minutes.

Then add the chopped onion, sauté for another minute, and add the carrot. Continue sautéing, stirring, for another minute or two.

Cut two celery stalks into cubes. By the way, I replace potatoes with it. This soup is not the lightest, in the sense that it is not only hearty and rich, but also quite calorie-dense. Potatoes have never been a light vegetable, unlike celery. And if you are already prepared to say that you do not like celery - do not rush, after frying and then boiling it, its taste will mellow. Just try it once, because I also used to not use it because I didn't like its taste and smell. The usefulness of celery made me reconsider my tastes and decide to try it. For example, I can't imagine broths without it now. But! If you still can't stand it, add cubed potatoes with all the fried ingredients 15 minutes before the end, excluding or reducing the amount of celery.

I have yellow split peas, half a cup. Sort and rinse them thoroughly. In general, they will cook for about 30 minutes. If you pour boiling water and let it sit while the meat is cooking and the frying is done, the time will be reduced to about 15-20 minutes. But it's so insignificant that I rinse them and let them sit, just by pouring cold water over them.

Add the split peas to the strained broth and simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cut hot smoked pork sausages into slices or as desired. I didn't buy anything special, I just found them in the freezer (that's when I had the desire to cook split pea soup urgently). They can be thick sausages, and if you don't have them, you can just take more bacon.

Let's start assembling our soup. Add the contents of the frying pan, the sliced smoked sausages, bay leaf, and pepper to the split peas. This time, instead of black pepper, I added a piece of red chili pepper. But it's up to you.

Continue cooking for another 15 minutes. During this time, my split peas became completely tender. Taste it and adjust the flavor to your liking. Peel the garlic and press it or chop it with a knife. Add the garlic and chopped parsley (I used frozen) to the pot. That's it, turn off the heat, cover with a lid, and let all the ingredients mingle for about ten minutes, so to speak. Season with sour cream if desired and serve. Fragrant, hearty, cozy, just perfect for when the hot summer outside has been replaced by a cool autumn. Enjoy your meal!