Split Pea Soup

Mother's Version:

Ingredients:

2 cups split peas

2 tbsp butter or oil

10 cups water or broth

1 1/3 cup diced onions or shallots

2 cups chopped carrots

2 cups chopped celery

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon dried thyme

salt/pepper to taste

dash cayenne

Rinse peas under cold running water and pick through; discard any discolored peas.

Saute onions in butter until translucent. Add water, peas, carrots, celery and spices. Stir.

Bring to a simmer and cook on low to medium heat until peas are soft (this may take two to three hours).

Puree the soup, using a blender or food processor. Be very careful pureeing with a blender as hot foods can

Make the lid blow off (I've burned myself before doing this.).

Season the soup with salt, pepper nad cayenne pepper (or hot sauce).

Good with leftover Thanksgiving/Easter ham. :3




Emmanuel's Version:
Note: this is from memory, so I'm probably missing or misrepresenting something. But here goes:

Start by chopping one medium onion and placing in a large stockpot with oil or butter.
Simmer the onion until it gets brown, stirring as necessary to keep from burning. This should take around 10-15 minutes or so.
Fill the pot with water and bring to a boil
Add vegetable bouillon if available. If not, you will need to add a fair bit of salt as well as more herbs and probably some things like carrots or celery.
Chop 2 medium potatoes into about 1" chunks
Add about 1-2 cups of dry split peas.
Simmer for 45 minutes, or until the potatoes are starting to become soft
Add another cup or so of dry peas
Chop up and add other ingredients you like, such as carrots, parsnips, more onions, etc.
Season to taste with salt, pepper, parsley, rosemary, or whatever else you like (other popular choices are thyme, bay leaves, and sage).

Boil for another 45 minutes or so, until the original split peas have disintegrated into a green broth and the new ones are done cooking.

Note that this makes a *lot* of soup. You need to have enough water to keep this from turning into sludge! The above recipe makes probably around 4 quarts.

Good luck!

Love,
Emmanuel