Goroshnitsa Pea Soup

As a huge fan of spicy Turkish red lentil soup, I was delighted to remember that my native Russian cuisine has something similar: a yellow split pea soup with smoked meat called goroshnitsa. A perfect autumn and winter comfort dish, the soup is a great way to use up any leftover smoked meats and sausages in the refrigerator. But of course, by all means do purchase the loveliest smoked pork ribs and other fatty delights such as pancetta and cured lardo specifically for the occasion. Writing this recipe, I also remembered that it was a favourite dish of my late grandpa Yuri. Both my mum and my gran always made a mean split pea soup, much to Yuri’s delight. Sadly, he never had the chance to try mine, but something tells me that my version would have topped the charts.

SERVES 4
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300g dried yellow split peas

2 litres water
2 vegetable or pork stock cubes
2 bay leaves
200g pancetta, diced
200g smoked pork sausage, diced
4 smoked pork ribs, whole on the bone
1 onion, finely diced 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
freshly ground black pepper

Thoroughly rinse the yellow split peas under cold running water. Place in a large pot and add the measured water, along with the crumbled stock cubes and bay leaves. Cook, uncovered, over a medium-high heat for about 40 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the most fragrant soffritto. Heat up a frying pan, add all the meats – they should start sizzling straight away, giving off a wonderfully smoky rich aroma – and fry over a medium heat for 10–15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the onion and carrot and fry for a further 8 minutes. The fat from the meat should be enough, but if the mixture starts to dry up and stick to the pan, add little bit of stock from the split peas.

Empty the frying pan into the soup pot with the boiling peas. Make sure to rinse the pan out with some of the pea stock so that you don’t lose the tiniest bit of the fragrant fatty soffritto. Generously season with black pepper and simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes.

Taste for seasoning – I find the meat and the stock salty enough, so I have omitted extra salt here, but feel free to add it to your liking. Portion out the soup into 4 bowls, making sure each diner gets a piece of rib, and get stuck in without further ado.