Snert (Dutch Split Pea Soup)

Ingredients

• 8 1/2 cupswater
• 1 1/2 cupssplit peas, rinsed
• 3 1/2 ozpork belly or bacon
• 1pork chop
• 1vegetable bouillon cube
• 2celery, stalks, chopped; leaves reserved for garnish
• 2carrots, chopped
• 1potatoes, large, diced
• 1onion, small
• 1leek, small
• 1 cupceleriac, diced
• 1 lbsmoked sausage (rookworst)

Method

1. 1

   Put the water, rinsed split peas, pork belly, pork chop and bouillon cube into a large soup pot and bring it to the boil.

2. 2

   Drop it to a simmer, cover, and cook for 45 minutes, stirring now and then and lifting off any gray foam that gathers on the surface.

3. 3

   Lift the pork chop out, strip the meat off the bone and slice it thinly. Set it aside.

4. 4

   Add the celery, carrots, potato, onion, leek and celeriac to the pot. Bring it back to the boil, then simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, splashing in more water if anything starts sticking to the bottom.

5. 5

   Drop the smoked sausage in for the last 15 minutes, so it warms through and gives its smoke to the broth without falling apart.

6. 6

   Once the vegetables are tender, take out the pork belly and the sausage and slice both thinly.

7. 7

   Blitz the soup smooth with a stick blender if you like it that way, then season with salt and pepper and return all the sliced meat to the pot, holding a few rounds of sausage back.

8. 8

   Ladle into warmed bowls and finish each one with the reserved sausage and a scatter of chopped celery leaf.