Erwtensoep

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Wikipedia provides some interesting information on this uniquely Dutch soup, how it is made and served - and it's place in everyday Dutch life:

 Erwtensoep, also called "snert", is the Dutch version of pea soup. It is a thick stew of green split peas, different cuts of pork, celeriac or stalk celery (Apium graveolens var. dulce), onions, leeks, carrots, and often potato. Slices of rookworst (Dutch smoked sausage) are added a few minutes before serving. The soup, which is traditionally eaten during the winter, is emblematic of Dutch cuisine. 
It is customarily served with rye bread (roggebrood) and bacon, cheese or butter. The bacon is usually 'katenspek'; bacon which has been cooked and then smoked. The pork and sausage from the soup can also be eaten separately on rye bread together with mustard.
So called 'koek en zopie' outlets, small food and drinks stalls which only spring up during winters along frozen canals, ponds and lakes in the Netherlands and cater to ice skaters, usually serve "snert" as a hearty snack.
In Suriname, a former dutch colony, dutch style pea soep is eaten as a street food.

Wiki's section on Dutch Cuisine offered a little more information:

 Snert has a very thick consistency...and is almost a stew rather than a soup. The thick consistency of the Dutch pea soup is often described as that "..you should be able to stand a spoon upright in a good pea soup."

Here's the recipe, from Time-Life's Foods of the World - A Quintet of Cuisines (1970):

 Erwtensoep
Green Pea Soup

To serve 8 to 10:

2 cups dried, green split peas (1 pound) thoroughly washed
2 large, fresh meaty pig's feet (Ron's note: If you don't want to use pig's feet, then use a couple of pork chops)
1/2 pound mildly cured salt pork in 1 piece with rind removed
4 quarts water
4 medium-sized boiling potatoes (about 1.5 lbs), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
4 medium-sized leeks, including 2 inches of the green tops, trimmed, washed to remove any sand, and finely chopped
1 medium celery root (celeriac), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/4 cup finely-chopped, fresh celery leaves
1/2 pound pre-cooked smoked sausage, such as kielbasa, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
1/4 teaspoon crumbled, dried summer savory
Freshly-ground black pepper

In a heavy, 6- to 8-quart casserole, combine the split peas, pigs feet, salt pork and water. Bring to a boil over high heat, skimming off the foam and scum as they rise to the surface. Reduce the heat to low, partially cover the pan, and simmer for three hours. Then add the potatoes, leeks, celery root and celery leaves, and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes.

With tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the pig's feet and salt pork to a cutting board. Remove and discard the skin, gristle and bones from the pig's feet, then cut the meat and the salt pork into 1/2-inch dice.

Return the diced meats to the soup and add the sliced sausage, crumbled summer savory and a few grindings of black pepper. Stirring constantly, bring the soup to a simmer over moderate heat and cook for a few minutes to heat the sausage through.

Taste for seasoning and serve at once from a heated tureen or in individual soup plates.

Here's a picture from the Time-Life volume:

From Time-Life's Foods of the World - A Quintet of Cuisines (1970):

 On our way to the restaurant we took a brief detour and drove along the banks of the Amstel River just outside of town. This broad, seemingly still river reflected the evening light of an icy blue sky. The farther bank extended flat as far as the eye could see to mee the sky at what seemed to be a right angle. Straight-edged geometrical Dutch houses -  they made us think of the purity of Vermeer and Mondrian - old windmills and tall, slender trees were silhouetted against the luminous background, with rays of light streaming through the verdant foliage. In summer the Amstel is alive with boats, banners flying in the wind; and in winter, when frozen over, it is a sparkling arena for a frenzy of skating activity and colour. Once away from the crowds and the noise of Amsterdam, we felt, it was possible to see the Netherlands as the country's great landscape painters had. Frances said later than while driving she had felt as if she herself were a small figure in a brooding landscape by Jacob van Ruisdael.

The above quote really sets the mood for this satisfying, filling soup, which is a perfect cure for a cold, grey day. I realize that some folks might not get all excited about a recipe involving pig's feet, but you would be surprised. The meat from the "trotter" is very well-suited to this recipe; but more importantly, the soup takes on a very complex depth due to the melting of the collagen and connective tissues in the feet. But if that doesn't convince you, simply swap out the trotters for a couple of bone-in pork chops and use them instead. Another substitute a person could do is use a good, meaty ham bone in place of both the salt pork and the pig's feet. 

I started this recipe out at my parent's house, since most of that day was consumed with pickling beets and canning tomatoes. Since the first stage of making the soup involves simmering the peas, trotters and salt pork for three hours, I figured I might as well do it there, and then bring the operation back home to finish for supper. 

Here's a shot of the ingredients I needed to get started:

As with most of the dishes I prefer to make, the ingredients are simple, humble, economical and close to the land, and this is no exception. 

A note on the pig's feet: these were split, so i bought four halves (2 pig's feet). as it turned out, they didn't have much meat on them, but it was ok. They also serve a purpose in that they are full of melty gelatinous goodness that will be released while simmering.

A note on the salt pork: You want to choose salt pork that is cured and as "meaty" as possible. I searched an entire bin to find the one that had the most meat versus fat, and it paid off pretty well. The salt pork will probably come with a rind of skin. Per the instructions, I trimmed it off, providing a wonderful square of rind and fat, which worked beautifully in a dish that i did a couple of nights later, when i rendered it out and fried onions and lean beef in the fat.

You want to use the proscribed amount of water (four quarts) because the peas will require it, and so will the feet and salt pork, in order to soak up the moisture that they need. There is no need to add any salt to this recipe, as plenty will come from the salt pork and, later, from the sausage. 

I added the components to the water in the kettle:

Then brought it to a boil and reduced the heat so that it could simmer, bubbling contently, for three hours. This allowed time for the peas to absorb the water, the salt pork to release it's wonderful flavour and the trotters to melt into rich goodness!

When that was done, I was also finished with my canning for the day, so I packed everything back home and turned my attention to the remainder of the preparation. I had asked #3 son Billy to get a shot of the rest of the goods with his iPhone or iPod or some electronic gizmo, but he wasn't able to get the pictures to save, so we're missing out on that ~ no worries, though, because he prepped them for me and did a great job of it.

The three-hour-boiling finished, I then consulted the recipe and added the next ingredients:

Clockwise from upper-left: potatoes, leeks, 1 large turnip (substituted for celeriac) and chopped celery leaves.

Normally, the celery I buy has beautiful, big, very green celery leaves - but this time, they were a little pale. for the best flavour, you want to use the best ones you can find. There is something about celery leaves that make any good soup much, much better, with an aroma and subtle flavour that really brings things up a notch.

When I added these ingredients, the soup, which had been a thin, pale green so far, immediately transformed into a thick, delightful, verdant treasure:

The aroma was wonderful and completely full of the rich, bountiful earth, and I was suitably impressed with the way things were going. The recipe dictates that the soup (which was on the verge of being a stew now) simmer another half hour, so we brought it to the bare beginnings of a boil again and then reduced heat to a slow, thick bubble.

30 mintues later, I lifted the lid and saw some beautiful stuff:

The peas had pretty much incorporated themselves into the stew, the leeks and celery leaves were starting to break down, and the potatoes and turnip were tender. Everything looked just about right and ready for the next stage. 

I removed the salt pork and the feet from the soup and left it to simmer while I prepared the meat:

The trotters had broken down very well - the skin was sloughing off and the bones were very loose. They really didn't have much meat on them, so we got what little we could and then I diced the salt pork:

And added the meats to the bubbling, thickening stew:

At this point, tradition dictates that Dutch rookworst, sliced into thin coins, be added to the stew, but rookworst is a little hard to come by in this part of the country. Kielbasa or some other similar smoked sausage is a perfectly acceptable substitute:

After adding the sausage, I stirred in a moderate dose of black pepper and the summer savory, and then let the erwtensoep simmer for about 10 minutes in order to heat everything though. 

By this time, the vegetables had broken down very well and we were left with a rich, thick, bubbling joy, with a few bits of potato and turnip to provide some texture along with the meats:

When the erwtensoep was ready, I served it up:

Normally, this soup/stew/"stewp" is served with roggebrood, a Dutch rye bread, but we didn't have any handy, so we buttered some slices of humble, whole wheat bread, it it worked just as well.

I really enjoyed this soup and all of the deep, earthy flavours. It is amazingly clear why it is associated in Holland with winter days in the countryside, as it contains everything that could be found on a family farm there. When simple ingredients are brought together and given slow, gentle cooking, the result is always much more than the sum of its parts, and this was no exception. Every component was evident, but in between were flavours that simply wouldn't have been possible without the combination. The only thing I could see doing differently was to perhaps add a few diced carrots for colour, which would be in keeping with Dutch versions of this recipe.

The entire family really liked this dish - but the kids, who had been enjoying seconds to the point where I had none for lunch the next day, seemed to change their minds the later on when they found out there were pigs' feet in it. Suddenly, for that reason alone, the soup went from "wonderful" to "yucky." 

Thanks for taking a look at this - it was a real treat and one that will definitely be made again for a humble, satisfying supper on a cold winter's day. I hope that some of you are able to give this a try ~ especially those of you who live in the rural areas of the north - it's a perfect dish for such a setting!

Edited by TasunkaWitko