Fast forward to this weekend: he's coming down here. I want to cook for him. I take all effing week to plan ONE dinner. Picking it out, shopping, all that. Cripes. I do NOT win at cooking.
While babysitting on tuesday, I was going through a Barefoot Contessa cookbook that they had. I've heard her name a million times, but I've never seen any of her shows or anything. I came across this recipe for split pea soup. It caught my attention because of the short/easy ingredient list. I always assumed that split pea soup had a ham hock or something weird like that in it. Sold!
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped yellow onions
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/8 cup good olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups medium-diced carrots (3 to 4 carrots)
- 1 cup medium-diced red boiling , unpeeled (3 small)
- 1 pound dried split green peas
- 8 cups chicken stock or water (I always use low sodium. Plenty of flavor.)
- (I also added one of those thick slices of ham, diced. Split pea soup needs ham, RIGHT??)
Directions
In a 4-quart stockpot on medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with the olive oil, oregano, salt, and pepper until the onions are translucent, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the carrots, potatoes, 1/2 pound of peas, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. off the foam while cooking. Add the remaining split peas and continue to simmer for another 40 minutes, or until all the peas are soft (here is where I added my ham, too). Stir frequently to keep the solids from burning on the bottom. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve hot.
Until close to the end, I was worried that the peas weren't going to get mushy. Split pea soup must be MUSHY, damn it!! But it did. And holy balls the flavor! It tastes nice and smoky and the carrots and potatoes make it really hearty. Maybe the bestest part? WAY cheap. I made it tonight, thinking that maybe it'll be even better if it sits for a day before I the boy has to pretend that he loves it. We'll see!
