Monday, February 05, 2007

Split Pea Soup

By request, here's my spli pea soup recipe. In the early days of our vegetarianism, I would add things like seasoned tofu or bac'un bits to take the place of the ham. Now I really find we don't need to. The recipe I use is based on the one in Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook circa 1990. You can easily halve this recipe if you're not cooking for a crowd but if I were you, I'd make it and freeze half.

Split Pea Soup
4 cups dried split peas, rinsed
16 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp dried marjoram or thyme (I use whichever I have)
2 bay leaves
4-6 carrots, diced
4-6 stalks of celery, chopped (I frequently substitute collard or kale stems. I've even used celeriac in place of the celery.)
2 large onions, chopped

Place everything in a large pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let simmer for about 1 1/2 hours or until the peas are tender. Remove the bay leaves. I usually take a potato masher and mash everything before serving but if you don't mind a chunky soup you can skip this step.

My whole family loves this soup. We've tried other variations that use basil or oregano but we always come back to this one.

I haven't forgotten about the white beans that are going to become a sandwich spread. Its just that the original batch got used in a soup.

2 comments:

Ruthie said...

Yum, I will try this today as we are out of sweet potatoes. :)

By the way, I saw a white bean spread that might interest you. It was a garlicy, Greek-like hummus with walnuts, olive oil and lemon juice. I'll just throw that out there. I know you're kids aren't the garlic-heads R & I are.

Katie said...

Hey, I'm still a garlic head even if they're not. Please share the recipe!