Pea Soup Anderson

I have no idea who "Pea Soup Anderson" was, but I am told that a neighbor called me this when I was about 3 years old because I liked split pea soup.

Well, I still like a good split pea soup, and here's the one I made last night, using the last bits of our New Year's ham. It was pretty darn good and I'm sure Anderson would approve.

Split Pea Soup

1. Rinse and pick over a bag of split peas (1 lb, I think, but I didn't check). Put them in a large pot with a leftover ham bone. Cover the peas and most of the bone with about 2 quarts water and a (14 oz) can of chicken broth. Bring to a boil.
2. While the pot is heating, dice 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 parsnip (or 1/2 of one if large), and 1 stalk celery, and mince a large garlic clove.
3. When the pot is boiling, skim off as much as possible of the scum that rises to the top, then add the vegetables and a bay leaf. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for about an hour.
4. Dice a large russet potato and whatever leftover ham you have (I had about 2 cups of diced ham) and add them to the pot, along with salt and pepper to taste (go light on the salt, because you are adding ham). If your ham bone was very meaty, remove it, cool it, dice the meat, and return both meat and bone to the pot. Cook at a simmer at least another half hour, uncovered. Remove bone and bay leaf and serve (or save for tomorrow; this is the kind of soup that tastes even better the next day).