So it took me a while to get this blog post up because I was having some technical difficulties, aka the cat chewed my computer charger cord.  I’ve already let him know that you are all angry with him for delaying the Split Pea Soup post…he doesn’t care, cats don’t care if you’re mad at them…he just gave me a dirty look and walked away, probably to go look for an iphone charger.

Split Pea Soup is one of my all time fav soups to make and to eat.  Why? 4 words…Easy, Cheap, Healthy, and DELICIOUS.  I’m trying to come up with an acronym for these four words because they sort of seem to be my mantra for cooking.  #CHED? #DECH?  I will keep working on it…This soup on its own is vegan but I swear it tastes like you’re eating the creamiest, most buttery thing in the world.  I put a ton of veggies in my soup but you can put in (or leave out) whatever you want (except for the peas, they’re sort of a must).

Here’s my ingredient list…

Veggies
1 – 16 oz. bag dry split peas
1 – yellow onion (chopped coarse)
3 – carrots (chopped coarse)
3 – stalks of celery (chopped coarse)
1- leek
1 – fennel bulb
1 – clove garlic (minced)

Spices
2 tsp – turmeric 
1 tbsp – herbs de provence 
2 tsp – salt
1 tsp – ground black pepper
2 bay leaves

Liquid
32 oz – vegetable stock
32 oz – water

You will also need an immersion blender or a regular blender in order to make this soup because it needs to be pureed at the end.

And here’s a pic of your veggies! (I like to take photos of vegetables)

Start by putting some extra virgin olive oil in a big stock pot over medium low heat and throw in your chopped onion.  You don’t have to chop any of these veggies to a specific size because it’s all going to get pulverized in the end…lazy chop will do just fine here.

Then throw in your garlic, carrots, and celery.

Let’s learn how to properly clean and cut the leek…

Cut off the dark part and discard…

Cut it lengthwise…

Turn it 1/4 and cut again…

Fan the thing out…

And rinse it under cold water to get the dirt out of it (they’re dirty)…

And then chop it up…

Now let’s learn how to properly clean and cut the fennel…

Start with cutting the end of the bulb off…

Then cut off the stalks and discard them…

Then discard the outer layer…

This fennel bulb was a little weird, usually you want to cut it in half at this point and remove the small hard core but this one didn’t have any stiff parts so I just chopped it up and threw it in…

You don’t have to use either of these veggies but I can’t see why you wouldn’t, both add fantastic flavor to the soup.  

Now add your spices…turmeric and herbs de provence.  

Two of my all time favorite spices right there.  Turmeric is used a lot in Indian cooking and thanks to Mrs. Soni I have a ton of it…and herbs de provence is a blend of spices that originated in Provence, you can read all about it here.  Also add those boring bay leaves (just kidding, they are also fascinating).

Now add your salt and pepper, your vegetable stock, and your water.  My vegetable stock looked like beef stock and I almost had a heart attack but it was just because this particular stock had some tomato in it…whatevs.

Now add your peas…

I got 2 pounds of organic split peas from the bulk section at Whole Food’s for $1.99…good times.

Make sure you rinse and drain them first…

Now stir everything together, put the pot on simmer, cover loosely with a lid, and then go make sure your cat isn’t chewing on something…or do whatever else.  Come back and check on the soup every 20 minutes or so and give it a good stir.  You will know when it’s done because the peas will get really soft, mine took about 2 hours before I was happy with it.

This is what it looks like after about an hour…

It’s time to get out your immersion blender and puree everything together.

If you are using a regular blender you may need to do this in a few batches because there’s a ton of soup here…and for goodness sakes be careful.


Guess what, it’s done!  Go ahead and taste it to see if you want to add more salt/pepper, my soup was on the thicker side but I like it like that…you can always add more stock or water at the end if you think it’s too thick.

Now in order to trick my kids into eating something that is so jammed packed with vitamins and other nutritional goodness, I have to veer off the vegan path.

Green soup on its own isn’t very appealing to them…but green soup topped with ham and cheese is a totally different story.  

I cube up the ham (I just got a slab from the deli because that’s where it’s the freshest), shred some mild cheddar cheese, and then put it in bowls so they can top their own soup with what they like…this is fun for kids I promise.  I also bake a baguette for dipping (more fun).

And that’s it…

This soup TASTES LIKE BUTTA!  Here is my pickiest child chowing it down…

If you like split pea soup, you will love this recipe…and if you don’t like pea soup you will still love this recipe.  Make it and then trick your kids into eating it!  Muahahahahaha! (evil laugh)

Cheers!

The Good Cooker