Soup! How I’ve missed you! I know there’s all those fabulous cold soup recipes out there for the summer, but honestly, the texture of cold soup doesn’t really appeal to me and just seems plain weird. Maybe someday I’ll be able to expand my horizons and make/enjoy cold soup, but for now, I’m sticking to the hot stuff.
And lucky me, it was actually cool enough to make it sunday night! And by cool enough, I mean I was running in my running tights and wool socks while everyone else was in shorts and tank tops…but definitely cool by my standards!
And nothing says fall more than split pea soup. As you know, I usually stick to veggie soup, but I promised Jeff that I would actually use a little pork (shocking, I know!) to flavor the soup–if we could get it from the local butcher at farmer’s that weekend. And then, of course, the butcher was out by the time we got there, but somehow, I was still convinced to add a little bacon…boys.
The bones of the soup were pretty standard. I was so tempted to open up my favorite Love Soup cookbook, but knew I wasn’t ready for putting quite that much effort into soup already! So I simply cooked the bacon in our Le Creuset pot and then used that grease to cook the onions, shallots, garlic, carrots, and celery.
Then, I just added the peas, broth, bacon (chopped), a little parsley, and spices and let the soup work its magic for the rest of the afternoon.
Sundays are my catch up days, but there is just something so comforting and relaxing about having soup on the stove and the anticipation of all the love and thought that goes into dinner after a semi-working/semi-lazy day.
Here’s to the start of a great soup season!
Split Pea Soup
Serves 6
Ingredients:
16 ounces dry split peas
4 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup parsley, chopped
6 slices bacon
32 ounces low sodium chicken broth
1 bay leaf
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
olive oil
Steps:
Cook bacon in a ceramic pot. Remove, chop, and set aside.
Add onions, shallots, garlic, and olive oil to the bacon grease and cook until the onions become translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add celery and carrots and continue to cook until they begin to soften, about 8-10 minutes.
Add the bacon back to the pot along with the peas, broth, and parsley.
Season with bay leaf, salt, and pepper.
Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and let cook for at least 3 hours, checking water level periodically.
Using an immersion blender, blend until you reach desired consistency.
Enjoy!
Time: 3-4 hours
