Split Pea Soup with Coppa

What is the difference between roast beef and pea soup?
Anyone can roast beef.

I had some leftover coppa (dried/cured pork) in the fridge, so I decided to make some split pea soup (I know, normal people would just eat it on a cracker).

When I first started dating my now husband, I went through a vegetarian phase.  I know! I know, I know, you can't even believe me when I say that after the way I wrote about shredding lamb while making gyros.  The veggie only phase lasted a year (and I can't believe it lasted that long).  It all started because of a particular movie that will not be named.  Although, informative and well worth watching, I would not recommend watching this particular movie to anyone that wants to continue to eat hamburgers...or perfectly dried and salty pork.

Enough about my one dark...green year.  Back to the soup!

Here's what you need for my Split Pea Soup:
1 bag of split peas
1 tablespoon olive oil
left over pork (bacon, ham, coppa, etc.)
1 onion
2 fat carrots
1-2 cloves of garlic, depending how garlicy you're feelin'
8 cups of chicken stock (we had some homemade from when I roasted a chicken last week, next time I will try and make a post of it)

Soak your peas in water over night.  Want soup now? Or, tonight rather? Follow package directions for a quick soak.

Get a big pot.  Turn the heat on medium and add in 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Finely chop up pork product. Add to pan.

Dice up onion.  Cry at how beautiful it all is, then add to pan.

Give it all a stir...try not to eat all the hot salty pork.

Dice up garlic.  Add to pan.

Wash, peel and dice up carrots to desired sizeness.  Add to pan.

Let it all hang and get the veggies sweatin'.  Add some salt and some pepper (I like to season soup as I go).

Add 6 cups of chicken stock (4 cups pictured here, 2 cups additionally added).

Drain peas that were soakin' and add them to the soup party pot.

Give it a stir.  Do a little dance. Lid on and drop the temperature down to simmer.  Stir every 30 minutes or so.

I let my soup cook for about 2 hours.  Delish.  If you still have leftover pork stuff, feel free to garnish on top of soup.  Sadly, I did not.  Serve it up with some crusty bread or a grilled cheese if you are feelin' cheesy...or grilledy (what would that even feel like?)