Split Pea and Lamb Soup

And here is this year's zeroah (lamb shank bone) recipe.  I do have lamb shanks a couple of times a year, but I always try to come up with something new to get the bone clean for Seder.

During my stockup session at the 99¢ Store, split pea soup sounded good.  I bought some dried split peas and a can of carrots for it.  When I got to Pavilions, they had lamb shanks in the freezer.  They were kind of pricey, I wasn't 100% sure I'd be hosting a Seder, and it was still early March, but I bought one anyway because I always seem to be scrambling for one at the last minute.  When I was considering buying a ham bone or can of ham for the soup, I realized I could just put the shank meat in it instead.

There are a ton of recipes for this online!  Several of them are Persian, and sound quite good.  A couple use rice, which sounded like a great way to break up the heaviness of split peas.  Then I hit on the idea of using bulgur, which I had picked up for some Turkish red lentil meatballs.  The only kind Sprouts had that day was a coarse grind, not the #2 I usually get, and I had to mark the jar so I wouldn't confuse it with the steel-cut oats.  I figured it would be good for pudding and soups.  Hello, this is a soup.

What I don't understand is why these online recipes had you use lamb cut off the bone, then chicken broth.  Sure, it's faster, but I'm going to give you the lamb broth version.  You can do that part the day before, or earlier if you want to freeze both the meat and broth.  Doing the broth in advance allows you to remove the fat after chilling.  The peas are rich enough not to need the added fat.

I'm seriously bummed that I made this before my preserved lemons were ready.  (Next post; I'll backlink it later.)  This is the kind of dish I'm making them for.  The recipe is going to reflect that.  For the average American who does not have preserved lemons in their fridge, lemon zest is perfectly acceptable and provided just the right amount of freshness.

1 lamb shank
5 C water
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp peppercorns
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1 Tb olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
*2 ribs celery, sliced
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced or one can sliced carrots
1 C dried split green peas
1/2 C cracked bulgur
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp lemon zest or 1 Tb chopped preserved lemon

1.  Make the broth, preferably the day before.  In a soup pot, brown the lamb shank over medium heat, about 5 minutes per side.  Add water, one bay leaf, the rosemary, and peppercorns.  I also added the leafy part of the celery.  You can add all the usual broth mirepoix if you want, but it's easier to fish out the meat without all those small bits.  Bring to a low boil.  Cover, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 2-3 hours, turning the lamb shank periodically.  Remove lamb and strain remainder of the broth.  Allow to chill overnight, so you can skim off the fat.  Take the meat off the lamb bone while it's still warm, chop into bite-sized pieces, and refrigerate that as well until you're ready to make the soup.

2.  Drizzle olive oil in the soup pot and warm over medium heat.  Add onions, celery, cumin, and paprika and cook until softened.  While that's happening, sort and rinse your peas to check for stones and other impurities.

3.  Add lamb broth to the soup pot, then stir in peas.  Add other bay leaf.  Bring to a low boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover.  Cook for one hour.

4.  Stir in carrots, bulgur, and lamb.  The peas should have started to break down.  Cook another 30-45 minutes, until the bulgur is done and the peas are creamy.  Taste and add salt and pepper as necessary.  Stir in lemon zest or preserved lemon to finish.  Fish out the bay leaf and serve hot.

Difficulty rating  :)