Wednesday, February 9, 2011

True confession--I really, really like split pea soup

Don't gag. I'm not talking about the thick green stuff that came out of Linda Blair's mouth. What I love is a velvety, smoky soup that's hearty enough to make me forget the way-below-freezing temperatures we've had to endure this endless winter. O.K., maybe not exactly forget but a good bowl of split pea soup makes it seem a little less brutal.

I turned this:












into this:

Here's the linky to the recipe, and here are my mods: I couldn't get one big meaty ham hock, so I bought a couple of smaller pork hocks, and I didn't bother with the dark bread croutons and mustard. I used half water and half chicken broth, and upped the quantity of onion, to reflect a more traditional mirepoix. (I was taught the amount of onion should be equal to the weight of carrot and celery combined.) I sauteed the mirepoix in olive oil instead of butter--the flavor didn't suffer and I cut out a little bit of saturated fat. Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Or soup dinner.

The recipe also calls for putting the soup into a blender or food processor and pureeing it until smooth. That's a pain in the butt--you always spill it or splatter it on the ceiling. I like using a stick blender instead. Yes, me and my gadgets, but it's one more thing I'd hate to cook without. They're perfect for making creamed soups, crepe batter, smoothies, and lots of other things. They've also gone way down in price since I bought mine. Stick blenders--they're a good thing! (Martha stole that line from me, by the way. Seriously. But she's got really good lawyers. Whatever, Martha.)



7 comments:

  1. I wonder if I can convince David (forget Davey) to eat this. Although wouldn't it be wonderful if Davey would try it. My mom made split pea soup when we were kids, and we'd complain but we always really liked it. She didn't puree or blend it so it was always a little chunky which was good too. I want to try your recipe. It looks wonderful!

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  2. Split pea soup is one of the greates things in the entire world. I'm a little jealous right not, not gonna lie.

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  3. Looks delicious! I love split pea soup. I don't own a stick blender, but I do highly endorse blending the soup.

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  4. Nope, not even! I do not like Split pea soup Sam I am. I do not like it even with ham. I do not like it with a fox, I do not like it on a box. oh, sorry, I got carried away with Dr. Seuss.
    I do like bean with bacon soup.

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  5. You are not alone on this one. I love pea soup ! Thanks for the recipe.

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