Split Pea Soup With Bacon And Crispy White Cheddar Grilled Cheese Recipes

HEARTY SPLIT PEA SOUP WITH BACON

Steps:

• Dice bacon into 1/4-inch cubes. Place in a heavy 6-quart pot over medium-low heat. Cook until fat is rendered and translucent. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Cook until onion and garlic are soft and translucent. Season with salt and pepper.
• Add split peas, stir to coat with fat, and add bay leaves and 2 quarts stock. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat so soup simmers. Skim foam that rises to the surface for about 10 minutes, until no more appears. Add thyme leaves. Simmer uncovered about 1 hour or longer, until peas are soft and starting to fall apart. Add more stock, as needed.
• Remove soup from heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Purée soup in a food processor in several batches, short of perfect smoothness; you should be able to spoon up some texture. Reheat soup, skimming off any foam. Stir from the bottom to mix well, then ladle into bowls and serve.

CREAMY SPLIT PEA SOUP

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven or soup kettle, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove bacon to paper towels; drain, reserving drippings. Add onion and celery to drippings. Saute until vegetables are tender; drain. Add the peas, water, potatoes, ham, salt, bay leaf and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until peas are very tender, stirring occasionally. Discard bay leaf., Cool slightly. Process in small batches in a blender until smooth. Return to Dutch oven; stir in cream. Heat through (do not boil). Garnish with reserved bacon.

GREEN SPLIT PEA AND BACON SOUP

Steps:

• Heat oil in a saucepan over medium high heat and add onion and garlic and cook stirring for about 3 minutes till onion is soft.
• Add peas and stir to coat.
• Add stock and cold water and bring to the boil.
• Reduce heat to low and simmer partially covered for 25 to 45 minutes or until peas are tender (see note above).
• Remove from heat and process half the soup in a blender or use a stick blender till smooth or do what I did and put the stick blender straight into the pot and process to your liking.
• Return to pot or if you just used the stick blender, stir in lemon juice and cook for 3 minutes or until heated through.
• While soup was cooking in the first 25 minutes, heat a frying pan over medium high heat and add bacon and cook till crisp or use recipe #208501 .
• Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel and drain.
• Crumble into pieces.
• Ladle soup into bowls and top with crumbled bacon and paprika and serve with a roll.

SPLIT PEA SOUP WITH BACON AND CRISPY WHITE CHEDDAR GRILLED CHEESE

Steps:

• Make the soup: If you have not yet, soak your split peas in water for 2 hours or overnight. This will improve the cook time of your soup. If the peas are not soaked, you will just need to cook them longer, about 30 to 40 extra minutes.
• Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced bacon and cook until crispy and brown. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon and rest it on a paper towel-lined plate. Pour off all but 1/4 cup of the drippings from the pot.
• Place the pot back over medium heat and add the onions, garlic and marjoram leaves. Cook until they turn translucent, about 2 minutes.
• Add the split peas, stock and milk and simmer until the peas start to fall apart, about 20 minutes.
• Once cooked, transfer half of the peas and cooking liquid to a blender with half of the spinach. Puree until smooth, adding more liquid if needed to thin out the soup. Repeat this step for the remaining half of the peas and cooking liquid.
• Combine all of the soup together and season with salt and lemon juice. Serve garnished with the bacon bits, sour cream and some fresh marjoram.
• Make the grilled cheese: Using the flat side of a knife or the back of a spoon or fork, crush the cloves of garlic and place into a small microwave-safe bowl. Add the butter and microwave on high for about 30 seconds or until the butter is boiling hot and fully melted.
• Brush the garlic butter over the back of the top and bottom pieces of bread for each sandwich. Flip the bread over and spread mayonnaise on each side and place 2 pieces of sharp white cheddar cheese in the middle of half of the pieces of bread.
• In a saute pan or skillet over medium heat, toast the sandwich butter side down until an even brown color is achieved, about 1 1/2 minutes. Flip the sandwich and repeat on the other side.
• Sprinkle with a pinch of salt, cut in half and serve hot with soup.

SPLIT PEA SOUP WITH BACON & CRAB

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove with a slotted spoon; drain on paper towels., Add onions, carrots and celery to bacon drippings; cook and stir over medium-high heat 8-10 minutes or until onions are tender. Stir in split peas, ham hocks, bay leaves, chicken stock and water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until split peas are tender, stirring occasionally., Discard bay leaves; remove ham hocks from soup. When cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones and cut into small cubes; discard bones., Puree soup using an immersion blender. Or, cool soup slightly and puree in batches in a blender; return to pan., Stir cream, salt, pepper and cubed ham into soup; heat through. In a small bowl, toss crab with bacon; serve with soup. Freeze option: Freeze cooled soup without toppings in freezer containers; freeze cooked bacon in a small resealable freezer bag. To use, partially thaw in refrigerator overnight. Heat soup through in a saucepan, stirring occasionally, adding a little stock or broth if necessary. Top servings as directed.

WHITE CHEDDAR CHEESE SOUP

Steps:

• In a saucepan, melt butter.
• Add leeks, celery, and carrot and saute for about 3 minutes or until wilted. Stir in garlic and season with salt and pepper. Dust the vegetables with 1/4 cup of flour and stir for 3 minutes.
• Whisk in the chicken broth, 1/2 cup at a time.
• Bring the liquid up to a boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer soupf for 45 minutes. Remove from heat and puree until smooth. Strain soup into a clean saucepan. Bring soup back to a simmer. Whisk in cream, cheese, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls. Garnish with bacon, grated cheese, and long chives.

SPLIT PEA SOUP WITH BACON AND ROSEMARY

Steps:

• Sauté bacon in heavy large pot over medium-high heat until crisp and brown. Add onion, leek, carrot and garlic and sauté until vegetables begin to soften, about 6 minutes. Add broth, peas, bay leaves and rosemary and bring soup to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until peas are tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.