Maybe it is a coincidence, or maybe on some days I share a few braincells with Shannon from "after the fire". But I made soup today. As a child I never liked soup, now as an adult, I love it. It's warm, it's filling, it's cheap. Unfortunately, my husband does not share my enthousiasm for many soups, but he loves my split pea soup.
Split pea soup is probably one of the easiest and most forgiving dishes. I have made it with beef broth, I have made it with some vegetable stock cubes. I have made it with plain water and real bacon... the only other ingredient really needed is.. you guessed it: split peas.
So for everyone who wants to make an extremely easy soup on a cold wintery day:
- Grab a crockpot or otherwise a large dutch oven cookpot
- Put in water
- Put in split peas
- Add extra flavour with some stock cubes, bacon, a hambone or whatever you have around.
- Put on low simmer for hours and hours till everyone is begging you to serve it.
- A great finish are some chopped up hotdogs or smoked sausage. If you prefer a vegetarian option; how about some garlic croutons.
There is just something about that big bowl of soup that allows you to relax on the couch and listen to the sound of the rain, the crackling of the snow or just the silence of the falling darkness. There are few things that will make a gathering as informal and friendly as a big bowl of chunky soup. It speaks of oldfashioned hospitality and welcome. It tells you the hostess does not feel the need to impress you and that you do not need to impress anyone. It whispers: be comfortable here. And don't we all want to be comfortable on those dark wintery days?
2 comments:
I love split pea soup -- now, as an adult. As a child, it was the only soup I just would not eat. Our school served a horrid looking version from time to time, and I couldn't get past that appearance. Now, as I said, I really like it, and DH loves it. I enjoy putting some ham or a ham bone in when we have it. However, I often make it without meat, as well.
I hope you enjoyed your soup!
My favorite add on to pea soup is to whisk a couple eggs in a measuring cup--and then add some hot nearly finished soup to the eggs and whisk it--and then to dump the whole thing back into the pot and stir. It adds a richness and thickens it a little bit. Teh yum!! I also usually add a little cream or milk--and then thicken with a little bit of corn starch first dissolved in a wee bit of water.
Pea soup is just one of my very, very favorites!
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