The pea soup is a dish of “food of the heart”, the traditional family cooking that we never tired of feasting for hundreds of years. The recipe was passed on to us by our ancestors from France. Their recipes published in the 1700s in old French cookbooks are almost identical to those that are prepared nowadays. Traditionally the soup simmered for several hours while now it can be cooked in less than 2 hours in a multi-cooker.
The best dried peas are those of companies that specialize in the sale of legumes. In general, the supermarket house brands and those in bulk are of lower quality. Quality peas have a uniform color without split skin.
The freshly baked pea soup is clear as it becomes thicker when cooled and heated. If you like it thicker then I suggest you prepare it the day before. If it seems too thick it will suffice to add a little water or beef broth to get the desired consistency.
Lately I tested the recipe with yellow split peas with success. I you use them there is no need to soak them before cooking. Just rinse the peas and begin recipe at step 4.
Servings : 6 to 8
Note that the total cooking time takes into account the time the Instant Pot takes to start cooking as well as the cooking and resting time before the evacuation of the pressure.
Sort the peas to remove the damaged ones and make sure there are no pebbles. Rinse under running water in a colander.
Put 6 cups (1 1/2 liter) of water in the inner pot, add peas and let soak 8 to 10 hours.
Drain peas, rinse under cold running water. Rinse the inner pot.
Put the peas, salted pork, celery, onion, parsley, savory, bay leaf and pepper in the inner pot. Add 7 cups (1 1/2 liter) of water. Put the lid with the pressure release button at sealing. Select "pressure or manual", set 30 minutes to "high" with "warm to off". Press on "start". (The unit will take about 20 minutes before beginning to cook).
When the end of cooking alarm sounds, wait [cook-timer minutes = "30"] 30 Minutes [/ cooked-timer] before releasing the pressure. Remove the bay leaf and salted pork. Add salt and pepper to taste.
For a more creamy soup, stir soup with immerse blender until some particles remains or reduce half of the the soup in a blender and pour back in soup. The soup can be refrigerated 1 week and frozen 6 months.
Ingredients
Directions
Sort the peas to remove the damaged ones and make sure there are no pebbles. Rinse under running water in a colander.
Put 6 cups (1 1/2 liter) of water in the inner pot, add peas and let soak 8 to 10 hours.
Drain peas, rinse under cold running water. Rinse the inner pot.
Put the peas, salted pork, celery, onion, parsley, savory, bay leaf and pepper in the inner pot. Add 7 cups (1 1/2 liter) of water. Put the lid with the pressure release button at sealing. Select "pressure or manual", set 30 minutes to "high" with "warm to off". Press on "start". (The unit will take about 20 minutes before beginning to cook).
When the end of cooking alarm sounds, wait [cook-timer minutes = "30"] 30 Minutes [/ cooked-timer] before releasing the pressure. Remove the bay leaf and salted pork. Add salt and pepper to taste.
For a more creamy soup, stir soup with immerse blender until some particles remains or reduce half of the the soup in a blender and pour back in soup. The soup can be refrigerated 1 week and frozen 6 months.
5 Responses
Just found your site and also the recipe for Quebec soup. I will certainly try it as is was my favorite soup growing up in St-Jean sue Richelieu and now living in California I have been trying to find a recipe for this soup for a long time. Thank you.
Hello Suzanne, you are welcome and I am happy you found a recipe you search for a long time.
Regards,
Micheline
Where can I find yellow shelled peas to plant. I grew up with whole yellow pea soup every Friday (meatless since Friday). We could easily find whole yellow peas in Maine, Quebecois in Maine. We cannot find whole shelled yellow peas anymore. Where can I buy the seeds to grow my own and dry them. And where can I buy affordable whole yellow shelled peas to make soup until I try growing my own next spring?
Hello Dianne,
I am sorry you cannot find whole yellow peas anymore in Maine. I suggest you search on the internet to find some. There is a website who has some in Quebec but they do not deliver in USA.
You can make the Quebec recipe with yellow split pea here is a recipe from my Eastern Township I often prepare. I discovered most of the people of this region use split peas.
Hope you like it,
regards,
Michelie
Yellow split pea soup
2 cups yellow split peas 500 ml
8 cups cold water 2 L
4 ounces salted pork, cut in two pieces 125 g
½ cup chopped celery, preferably with leaves 125 ml
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh or frozen parsley, chopped finely 30 ml
1 teaspoon dried savory 5 ml
1 bay leave
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Put yellow split peas and two pieces of salted pork in a large pot, add cold water, bring to boil stirring once a while to prevent peas sticking to the bottom of the pot. Reduce heat and skim the scum.
2. Add celery, onion, parsley, savory and bay leave and let simmer for about one hour and a half stirring once in a while. Soup is ready when peas are transformed in a purée. Season soup with salt and pepper.
3. Puree half of the soup in a blender or food processor and mix with other half of soup.
6 servings
Lots of sources for whole yellow peas in the USA. See this Google search: https://www.google.com/search: q=Whole+Yellow+Peas+Winco&oq=Whole+Yellow+Peas+Winco&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i160.14838j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8