Always enjoy making soup in the fall and winter months. I also like to change up classics with my own twist, just like in this split pea and pork confit soup recipe. Obviously the traditional version is ham and split pea, BUT if you’ve never had pork confit that you have no clue what you’ve been missing.
Confit is the process of cooking something in it’s own fat. You can confit just about anything, literally. You just put the pork tenderloin right in a pot with veggies, herbs and olive oil and pop it in the oven on 300° for 4 hours. Just as a side note, if you have lard laying around then use it, it will be amazing. The other cool thing about the confit fat that’s left over is that you can strain it and reuse it to confit other proteins. You’re welcome :-).
I used Bob’s Red Mill® Green Split Peas for the base of this soup, because simply their products are superb. Today’s garden pea is believed to be a distant relative of the field pea that was native to the Middle East and Central Asia. Since prehistoric times, dried peas have been consumed and were prized by the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China and Rome. Delicious, hearty dried peas are so easy to prepare, requiring no presoaking and cooking in just about 30 minutes. Green split peas are not only tasty and simple to cook, but also a good source of protein, iron and dietary fiber.
Maybe it’s my chefness, but I swear small diced vegetables just taste better. Come on you know you think that way too when you cut something a little bit different than normal, it just tastes better! Now for safety reasons you don’t have to cut them quite as small as mine, but do your best!
Once the pork confit is done cooking, I like to sear it in a really hot pan to crisp up the outside, trust me you want to do this. From there it’s just like pulled pork, grab two forks and shred it up.
Because I am all about garnishes and accoutrements I topped the split pea soup off with some crème fraiche, crispy leeks, the pork confit obviously, some fresh rosemary leaves and finally some montamore cheesy garlic bread!
Here’s a closer look into those yummy toppings. The bread is just a French loaf sliced in half, topped off with melted butter, granulated garlic, salt, pepper and some shaved montamore cheese. Went in the oven on 375° for only 15 minutes and boom you’re done son J For the leeks, just julienne and deep fry in some canola oil on 350° for 1 minute or until crispy. Strain on a paper towel before serving.
There may only be 2 pieces of cheesy bread In my soup but make no mistake, I ate atleast 10. Be sure to pin all of these big ol pics and follow my friends at Facebook.com/BobsRedMill and check out their site at bobsredmill.com.
- 1 pound of pork tenderloin cut into 3 chinks
- 1 large dice yellow onion
- 8 cloves of garlic
- 8 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
- 2 cups of olive oil
- 1 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 1 very small diced yellow onion
- 2 very small diced carrots
- 3 very small diced stalks of celery
- 4 very small diced cloves of garlic
- 1 cup of chardonnay
- 2 cups of Bob’s Red Mill® Green Split Peas
- 6 cups of chicken stock
- 1 medium diced large russet potato
- tabasco to taste
- Worcestershire sauce to taste
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
- crispy fried leeks
- montamore cheesy garlic bread
- crème fraiche (store bought)
- fresh rosemary leaves
- Pork Confit: Preheat the oven to 300°.
- Season the pork heavily on all sides with salt and pepper and add it to a medium size pot along with onions, garlic, fresh herbs and submerge in olive oil, and cook in the oven for 4 hours.
- Remove the pork from the pot and sear in a very hot saute pan on all sides until golden brown, about 3 mintues on each side.
- Shred the pork with two forks once it’s done and set aside.
- Soup: In a large pot on high heat, melt the butter and add in the onions, carrots, celery and garlic and saute for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Deglaze with the chardonnay and cook until it is almost gone.
- Next, add in the peas and cook for 3 to 4 minutes followed up by add in the split peas.
- Simmer over medium-low heat for 1 hour. Stir occasionally.
- With about 20 minutes left in the cooking process, add in the potatoes.
- When the soup is done cooking some of the peas should be broken up while others are still whole.
- Adjust the seasonings with tabasco, Worcestershire, salt and pepper before serving.
- Top off with garnishes.