Everyone is always complaining about Dutch food. The stodge, the sausages, the potatoes, the cabbage, the general blah-ness of it all. But to be quite honest, there is room in my world for almost all the foods and I am quite partial to traditional Dutch fare. What can I say, it’s hearty – and when you’ve been biking around in grey drizzle all day, it’s the kind of food that hits the spot. Erwtensoep, done well, is a particular favourite. Do not knock it ’til you’ve tried it. This one is a simplified version of one I found on cooksister – sans celery because I live with a celery-hater (but a celeriac lover, oddly); sans blending because I like vegetable chunks in mine; and sans bacon because 3 types of meat in a soup seems excessive to me. But hey, whatever floats your boat – and this recipe works super well, otherwise, so maybe she’s right about the whole 3 meats thing.

Before we get to it, note that there are two basic stages to this soup: the pea and pork stage, which takes almost an hour all in; and the vegetable stage, which takes 30 minutes.

To be honest, it’s more of a time investment than soup really warrants in my view – but this is a great soup, so since it is such an investment, I’ve started making it in double batches and freezing for later.

Ingredients

175mls

water

300g dried split peas

1 stock cube

300g pork chops (approx. 2)

250-300g carrots (approx. 3)

100g celeriac (approx.a quarter)

100g leek (approx.a half)

150g potato (approx. 2)

80g onion (approx. half a big one; full small one)

200g rookworst (smoked sausage)
Method

Step 1 lash the peas, stock cube, water and pork chops into a big pot. Bring to boil, put the lid on, turn down the heat and stir occasionally (cos once those peas get mushy, they’re a divil to get off the bottom of the pan). Simmer for 45 mins.

Step 2: fork out the pork chops onto a board and slice thinly. You should actually be able to just about pull the meat apart with just a fork at this stage. Make sure you get all the little bits of bone so you don’t kill anyone that eats it. Good advice, always, no?

Step 3: meat goes back into the pot, along with all the vegetables which you have spent the last 15-20 minutes cutting into nice, even-sized cubes of .5cm squared, no more, no less. I’M KIDDING. Just chop away, whatever feels good, although I do like the bits on the smaller side myself, as I don’t liquidise it at the end. I don’t try to cube the leek though because I’m not a fucking psychopath. Simmer for another 15 minutes. Stir occasionally, cos peas.

Step 4: add the sausage, and continue simmering for 15 (stir stirring every now and then). Congratulations, you now have some very excellent soup.

In terms of texture, it should be quite stiff. It’s somewhere between what we English-speakers know as vegetable soup and, say, mashed potato in terms of consistency. If that’s not your bag baby, just add some water to loosen it up. As always, you’re welcome. And thanks very much to Cooksister too!

Finish with a dash of Habanero hot sauce, and if you’re feeling particularly Dutch, serve with a glass of Jenever on the side. An excellent winter weekend lunch. Lekker!