Split Pea Soup

With all this talk about soup, I pulled out one of my favorite cookbooks for homemade soups: the original Moosewood cookbook, by Mollie Katzen. What? You don't have this cookbook?  Oh my gosh. It's a favorite of mine. Love the soups. And there's a fantastic brownie recipe in this book too. But for today, SOUP! Here's a vegetarian split pea soup that I love to make when the snow's falling. It's a healthy, hearty soup. Have some crusty bread on hand to enjoy with this one! And then some molasses cookies for dessert! Mmmm.

See this week's Carnival of the Recipes at Blogoram for more delicious recipes! This week's theme is appetizers! Mmmm.

Split Pea Soup

3 cups dry split peas
about 7 cups of water (more, as needed)
1 bay leaf
2 tsp salt
1/2 to 1 tsp dry mustard
2 cups minced onion
4 to 5 cloves garlic, crushed
3 stalks celery, minced
2 medium carrots, sliced or diced
1 small potato, thinly sliced
lots of freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 Tbsp red wine vinegar (to taste)

Toppings: Chinese sesame oil (optional)
a fresh, ripe tomato, diced
freshly minced parsley

1. Place split peas, water, bay leaf, salt, and dry mustard in a kettle or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil, lower heat as much as possible, and simmer, partially covered, for about 20 minutes.

2. Add onion, garlic, celery, carrots, and potato. Partially cover, and leave it to simmer gently for about 40 more minutes with occasional stirring. If necessary, add some water. [ed note: I always end up cooking this a lot longer than 40 minutes -- sometimes a couple of hours. Start early on this one. Taste test to see when things are cooked to your liking.]

3. Add black pepper and vinegar to tast. Serve topped with a drizzle of sesame oil, diced tomato, and minced parsley.

Comments

[running2ks]

Oh that sounds perfect for a cold and snowy day!

[Uisce]

I absolutly LOVE split pea soup. And we've got lots of milk fed pork from a farm, which is just very very yummy. And there's this smoked shoulder in the bundle I'd be so tempted to make into S.P.S. But alas, Wifey does not care so much for the S.P.S. She may not let me use that shoulder for something she considers, well, yucky.

[Marie]

It is so yummy! And good for you!!