Chunky Pea and Lentil Soup with Prosciutto and Ham is the cure for pea soup haters who come to be who they are in reaction to bland pea purée. This chunky pea soup is a beautiful, earthy gold with pops of orange and brown, and it has all sorts of textures: the soup is lightly creamy-ish, the potatoes are soft, the peas and lentils are al dente, the ham is substantial.

A second thing to love about this soup: it has layers of herb flavor that are completely intriguing.

Ingredients for 6 servings:

3½ oz. Prosciutto, diced
1 Tbs olive oil
1½ cups diced ham (about 8 oz.)
1 medium white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbs fines herbs blend, divided
2 stalks celery, sliced 1/4-inch thick
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4-thick rounds (halved, maybe)
1 lb. Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled, diced bite-sized (3 to 4 med. potatoes)
Salt and freshly-ground pepper
4 cups chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup dried lentils, divided
1/2 cup dried peas, divided
Crème fraîche, for garnish
Parsley, for garnish (optional)

How to do it:

1. In a large soup pot, cook the prosciutto until it’s crispy, about 5 minutes over a medium or medium-low flame, stirring frequently at first, constantly toward the end.
2. Add the olive oil and raise the heat to medium-high. Add the ham, onion, and 2 tsp of the herb blend; cook, stirring frequently. Meanwhile, mince the garlic and toss it into the pot. Continue to cook until the onion is golden, about 9 minutes.
3. Add the celery, carrots, potatoes, 1/2-cup water. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are just barely softening, 5 minutes.
4. Add the chicken broth, bay leaf, and half of the lentils and peas; cover and bring to a simmer. Place the lid askew and cook 6 minutes, lowering the heat as necessary to keep the soup at a simmer and not a full boil.
5. Add the remaining lentils and peas, and continue to simmer until the potatoes are extraordinarily tender, 12 minutes.
6. Off heat, give it a vigorous stir for about 30 seconds. Doing this should thicken the liquid. If it doesn’t, keep simmering – the solids aren’t soft enough.
7. Stir in the remaining 1 tsp herbs and fish out the bay leaf. Check seasoning.
8. Garnish servings with a dollop of crème fraîche (and a sprinkling of parsley).

Notes

• This isn’t meant to be an especially strict recipe. Adjust the amounts of or swap out the ingredients to suit yourself.
• I’m never one to mise en place unless I categorically cannot multitask the prep; for this soup, you’ll have to prep at least through the carrots before you begin.
• Of course you can use bacon instead of prosciutto. If you do, you almost certainly won’t need any olive oil.
• I used Spice and Tease “Special Omelet Potatoes” blend for the fines herbs. I have no doubt this is one of the reasons the soup turned out as well as it did. Whatever you use, make sure it’s alluring.
• I’m generally one to consider easily skipping a garnish if it’s just for looks. The crème fraîche – although the soup is absolutely delicious without it – is incredibly tasty with the soup. It’s great if you just scoop bits of it up with spoonfuls of the soup as you eat, but it’s also great if you stir it into your serving. Substitute Greek yogurt or sour cream – just as tasty.

I realize that Instant Pot is all the rage, and yet here I’ve given you a recipe for soup that you cook the old fashioned way, on the stove! As a wise nanny once asked, “Can you imagine that?”

In preparing this post, I was inspired by a Food Network, a Barefoot Contessa, and a Hungry Bluebird; yes, a strange trio indeed. I also found this guy to be strangely riveting and his advice quite practical. Here’s another one of his vlogs. The production is unglamorous, but I love how completely real-world and economical he is. Like, this is genuine, everyday cooking that a home cook would find indispensable.

Bonus

So you now have a partial bag of lentils in your cupboard, along with some split peas … and probably three 1/4-bags of rice that you can’t remember every buying. Will all this stuff sit there undisturbed for the rest of your life? Until you sell the house? Or until you decide to do an uncharacteristic deep clean of your cupboards? Figuring out how to use up leftover ingredients is one of critical jobs for any home cook, and it just isn’t talked about all that much.

I’m’n’a talk about it: once a bunch of assorted dried goods have hit critical mass, I cook them all in the Instant Pot. Together. Then I let it sit on “keep warm” a long time, or until I’m good and ready. Then I’ll refrigerate the stuff. And then, I’ll freeze it, maybe.

When it comes time to use it, here’s what I do, and it’s genius: I pan-fry some chicken in the simplest possible way: oil, a hot pan, salt and pepper, and finish it in the oven. You don’t have to let it come to full temperature; you can let that happen as it simmers in the sauce. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I remove the chicken from the oven, and the from the pan, and I pour off any juices from the pan onto the chicken. I add a bit of oil to the pan, and fry up whatever veg I’d like to get rid of: onions, mushrooms, whatever. Once they look good, I’ll add the rice mixture, stir it up, and then pour in a 12-oz. jar of something flavorful that I will have bought for the occasion: I gravitate toward Indian curries and wholly recommend them, but any kind of interesting sauce in a jar is fair game. Except pasta sauce. That just seems wrong. Anyway, once I pour the sauce in, I fill the jar about 1/3 of the way with water, shake vigorously, and pour that in, too. Let it come to a boil, then add back in your chicken, which you can cube or shred or whatever. Once it’s thickened down to the right consistency, off heat. If you have yogurt on hand, stir in may a quarter-cup.

This is so good, it almost seems unfair.

Second Bonus

Can you deglaze a pan with sangria? Yes. Should you? Yes.

Chunky Pea and Lentil Soup with Prosciutto and Ham

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! Thank you, Kesor. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. To me, Instant Pot is something you put in your vape pen if you live in Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, or Washington. If you live anywhere else in the U.S., I don’t know what it is.

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