Roasted Carrot, Split Pea and Clam Chowder the Big Catch-up

While I have been behind on my postings, I have still been eating and making soup!  Making soup and blogging every week about it, has turned out to be more of a commitment than I thought it would be... this doesn't mean I'm stopping, but I will be allowing myself a few breaks here and there.

Over the past few weeks I have had some good soup.  This started a few weeks ago when my friend Lyuba was in town.  We chose to go down to a Portland classic, Meriwether's.  We sat in the bar and completely over indulged with french fries, grilled pears, a small plate sampler and roasted carrot and honey soup.  I did have pictures of all of the deliciousness, but I just got a new phone and the pictures where on the old phone, so you can either image, or just try Meriwether's for yourself!

Two weeks ago my grandparents were in town for Easter.  One of Papa's favorite soups is split pea, so I thought I would make that for him.  I made the soup on Saturday while we were watching the amazing Blazer comeback win against Dallas, that was when we were still in the playoffs...  We had brunch on Sunday, so we ended up eating the soup for dinner on Monday night.  Nanny decided she couldn't come home and not have crab, so we had crab cocktails and split pea soup!  Overall the soup was good, I will post the recipe below, I would be sure to use a smoked ham hock, I don't think the one I used was smoked, so I added pieces of smoked ham to the soup.

This last weekend I spent at Seaside with my aunts, it was a beautiful weekend on the Oregon coast.  Now, I am all for crappy beach weather, in fact, I really do prefer it, but boy was it nice to see the sun!  We have a family tradition to eat Doogers clam chowder the night we get in.  We always take it to-go and eat at home.  Doogers is my favorite clam chowder, it is super creamy and  impossible to beat!



The split pea soup recipe is below.  I used half chicken stock and half water.  Also, it is super hard to find marjoram, you can substitute oregano.  Nanny did happen to find it, and I think it made a difference, it was like oregano with a hint of clove.  Next time I will use a Honey Baked Ham hock, those seem to be every one's suggestion.

Recipe:
Easy Split Pea Soup

• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped peeled carrots
• 1 1/2 pounds smoked pork hocks
• 2 teaspoons dried leaf marjoram
• 1 1/2 cups green split peas
• 8 cups water

Melt butter in heavy large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery and carrots. Sauté until vegetables begin to soften, about 8 minutes. Add pork and marjoram; stir 1 minute. Add peas, then water, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Partially cover pot; simmer soup until pork and vegetables are tender peas are falling apart, stirring often, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Transfer hocks to bowl. Puree 5 cups soup in batches in blender. Return to pot. Cut pork off bones. Dice pork; return pork to soup. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Refrigerate until cold, then cover. Rewarm before serving.)