Split Pea Soup

Split Pea Soup

It's been an abnormally warm and weird winter in Santa Cruz thus far.  Although the sun has been fabulous and my garden is growing I miss rainy weekends where I feel like I have "permission" to stay inside and do some kitchen hibernating!

Saturday morning when I awoke it was cold.  Finally.  I decided that after I taught my morning class and ran errands, that part of my afternoon, even if the sun did come out, would be making a wintery warm filling soup. (and I'm glad I did because it rained today, Sunday!!!) If you follow my blog you know that I make a lot of soup and we almost always have a big pot of it in the fridge.  So, here's another one.

Split Pea Soup

with vegetables

3 cups split peas, rinsed and picked through  

3 quarts of stock or a combo of stock and water (add more if the soup becomes too thick)

1 - 2 tablespoons of oil

1 large onion, diced

4 large carrots, chopped

4 celery ribs, diced

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1 rutabaga (or parsnip, potato, etc), diced

2 - 4 cups of spinach, washed and chopped

2 bay leaves

1 tsp tarragon

1/2 teaspoon oregano

salt and pepper to taste

1.  Heat oil on low.  Add onions and saute' on low for about 3 minutes.

2.  Add chopped carrots and celery and saute' for another 3 or 4 minutes.

Did you know that your dogs love to be in the kitchen with you while you are cooking and they are happy to eat the ends of the carrots and then go back to sleep until the next tasty treat falls to the floor?

3.  Add minced garlic and saute' for another bit.  Basically, just watch your pot as you are chopping the next item and let everything saute' into a nice glistening mess.

4.  Add stock and water, split peas, rutabaga or other root vegetable, bay leaves and other spices.  Bring to a boil.  Turn the heat down and simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour or until everything is tender and mushy.

5.  Add more salt and pepper if warranted (that means if you want to!) Remove bay leaves.

6.  Take about a cup of the soup out of the pot and blend it (please be very careful to cover the top of your blender with a towel so that no HOT soup comes spurting out at you in a very dangerous way).  Add the blended soup back into the pot to make a creamier split pea.

7.  Add the spinach or other greens at this point and simmer for about 5 - 6 more minutes.  I forgot to do this but will add the spinach in today.  Never too late for more greens in your diet.

Now eat tons of it with toasted crusty bread or a big green salad! Or just by its lonesome in a big bowl by the fire (or here in Santa Cruz, on the beach)

And to prove to you that we do more than simply garden, cook, and eat (although those are all amazing things to do with one's time!), here's a photo of my husband's weekend project.  He took the chainsaw out to a big piece of redwood and made us a bear!

How cute is that??????