Split Pea Soup with Lardons

📝 Ingredients

• 300 g split peas
• 2 carrots (about 120 g each)
• 1 brown onion (about 150 g)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 chicken stock cube + 1500 ml water
• 150 g turkey lardons
• 160 g wholemeal bread (4 slices of about 40 g each)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large pot with lid
• Stick blender
• Frying pan
• Colander
• Cutting board and knife

📖 Steps

1. Tip the split peas into the colander and rinse them under cold water, stirring them with your fingers. Remove any small stones or damaged peas. Unlike other pulses, split peas don't need soaking.
2. Peel the carrots and slice them into rounds, thinly slice the onion, and peel and crush the garlic. Heat 1 tbsp oil in the casserole dish over a medium heat and sweat the onion and carrots for 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent but not coloured. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
3. Add the split peas, the 1.5 L of water, the crumbled stock cube and the bay leaves. Bring to the boil over a high heat, then skim off the white foam that forms on the surface with a spoon. Don't add salt yet: the stock cube is already salty and the lardons will add more when serving.
4. Turn the heat down to low, cover with the lid slightly ajar and simmer for 50 minutes. Stir every 10 minutes, scraping the bottom, as split peas tend to stick. They're ready when they crush effortlessly against the side of the pot.
5. Meanwhile, cut the bread into 1.5 cm cubes and fry them in the frying pan with 1 tbsp oil over a medium heat for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring often, until golden and crisp. Set aside, then dry-fry the lardons in the same pan for 5 minutes over a medium-high heat until golden.
6. Remove the bay leaves, then blitz the soup with a stick blender until smooth and creamy. Too thick: add a little hot water. Too thin: let it reduce for a few minutes uncovered. Taste, then season with salt and pepper.
7. Serve the soup piping hot in bowls and scatter each bowl with golden lardons and croutons at the last moment, so they stay nice and crisp.