AKA Snert or Erwtensoep
For Christmas 2019, my mom got us an Instant Pot. Benne looked for a Snert (Dutch Pea Soup) recipe almost instantly, and we haven’t looked back. The Instant Pot makes it so easy to make a mostly-one-pot meal. We do get veggie sausages, which requires a quick turn in the skillet, but otherwise everything in this recipe is done in the pressure cooker. And it is wonderful! The recipe we use is adapted to be vegetarian, but you can use real smoked sausage, beef or chicken stock, etc. This is the perfect cold, rainy or snowy day recipe.
The original recipe (in Dutch) he used as a guide is here: https://uitdekeukenvanarden.blogspot.com/2017/12/erwtensoep-uit-de-instant-pot.html
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Ingredients
1-2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
1 medium or 2 small leeks
1 large onion
12 whole cloves
2-3 medium-sized carrots
10-12 small potatoes
16 oz dry split green peas, rinsed
6 cups water
1 tbsp Better Than Bouillon Seasoned Vegetable Base or other bouillon cube or seasoning
* alternative is a quart of vegetable or other stock instead of bouillon and water1-2 tsp dried thyme
2-3 bay leaves
optional extra salt if your bouillon or stock is low-sodium
4-6 Veggie sausage links (our current favorite is Field Roast Apple & Sage plant-based sausages)
Directions
- Trim the thick green leaves off the leek, halve the remaining light green and white root, and slice thinly. Rinse in a strainer to remove all the sandy grit.
- Peel the carrots and slice into rounds about 1/2 inch thick.
- Peel the potatoes, and halve or quarter any large pieces to make them relatively uniform in size. We usually the Little Dutch Potatoes, for size reference. You can also use larger potatoes, just cut the potato into uniform pieces.
- Peel the onion’s outer, papery skin, slice off the top and bottom, and use a fork to punch holes into the first couple of layers of the onion. Poke your whole cloves into the holes around the onion. Be sure not to use too many cloves – the flavor can be quite strong.
- Turn on your instant pot and hit the sauté button, we usually sauté on the normal setting for about 10-15 minutes or so. Chuck in your washed leek slices and sauté until they become soft and a little translucent
- Add the rest of your ingredients except the sausages (and any extra salt, if you already know how much extra you want). Give everything a good swirl and make sure all the veggies are pretty well submerged. Lock on your lid, making sure the vent is closed, and press “Pressure Cook” on “High Pressure”, and set to “normal”, and set it to about 20 minutes. Once it has cooked, allow Natural Pressure Release for about 15 minutes.
*Disclaimer: We are assuming you know how to use your Instant Pot. If you do not understand the terminology we are using, please make sure to familiarize yourself with your Instant Pot and it’s directions first. You should always make sure your lid is on correctly, and that you do not touch the vent with your bare hands when releasing pressure (or any time it is on, really). Always use a spoon or towel or oven mitt to release pressure and get away from it quickly, and make sure the pressure pin has dropped on your lid before opening it. Otherwise you risk injury and/or damage. - Once you’ve safely released the pressure on your pot and opened the lid, remove the whole onion pierced with cloves and discard, as well as any bay leaves (we leave the bay leaves in and whoever finds on in their bowl gets good luck, or wins bragging rights, or whatever seems fun, a tradition started by my own dad when we were growing up.) Your split peas should be pretty well disintegrated and your root vegetables cooked through.
- Cook your sausages according to the directions on the package. We like to slice ours into rounds first and then brown them in the skillet. To serve, we put however many sausages pieces we like into the bottom of the bowl before spooning the soup on top. Enjoy!
Details
6-8 servings
20 minutes
45 minutes
Notes:
This is a very adaptable recipe. In the Netherlands, it is traditionally served with smoked sausage, which is added at the end just to warm the already prepared sausage up. It’s also usually made using any combination of root vegetables, including celeriac, parsnip, rutabega, turnip, you name it. It is traditionally cooked with some kind of salty pork product in the soup, for extra flavor. Feel free to experiment! This is just our vegetarian version that Benne has honed over several years.
When reheating any leftovers in the microwave, I always add a few splashes of water because it gets quite solid (if you can’t stand your spoon up in it, it’s not Snert!).