pea soup and leukemia

My dear friend is running a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. If you're able and willing, please consider donating some money through this fundraising page. It's legit, and tax deductible.

On to the recipe...

I love pea soup because it feels like it's full of cream and butter, but actually contains none (unless your recipe involves cream and butter; mine doesn't). Plus, it reminds me of road trips I took as a kid with my mom and brothers through California, when we invariably would stop at Pea Soup Andersen's. Going back there as an adult I found that their soup wasn't as good as mine. So much the better, since my kitchen is much closer to me than Buellton.

Ingredients

3 cups (approx.) green split peas
2 carrots, diced
1 small onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
enough chicken stock or vegetable stock to cover the vegetables (maybe 6 cups)
1 tbs olive oil
salt and white pepper to taste
a large pinch of thyme
optional: diced (cooked!) ham, non-fat plain Greek yogurt, a dash of cream, a tablespoon of butter

Oh easiest of easy recipes! In a heavy pot, sweat the onions and carrots in the olive oil over medium heat. Use a little salt to help it along. You can also put diced celery in there, but as you may know, I don't get along well with celery. It's a long-standing feud. Anyway, cook the onions and carrots until the onions are soft and translucent. Then add the garlic and cook about a minute more. You add the garlic later because it has a tendency to burn.

Add the peas. Cover the whole shebang with stock. Here's how to tell you have enough - stick the handle of a wooden spoon straight down into the pot, until the tip just touches the vegetables (etc.) underneath. When you pull it out you can see the waterline (or stockline, if you will) coming up the handle. For pea soup, you want your waterline to come about three finger widths up the spoon.

Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the potatoes. Add more stock so that your waterline is back up to three fingers. Bring back to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer again for another 30 minutes.

At this point, I take about half the soup out and run it through the food processor. This helps give that nice creamy texture. Then I add that pureed soup back to the rest of it. If you like your soup thinner, don't run it through the processor, and feel free to add more stock. If you like it thicker, run more of it through the processor. Finally, add your seasonings, tasting as you add to make sure you get it how you like it.

Your soup is now ready and delicious. However, should you want to fancy it up, you can add any of the options from above. I personally like to put a tablespoon of non-fat Greek yogurt on top of each serving of the soup. It's heavenly. This makes enough for 4 or so servings. One caveat - refrigerated leftovers of pea soup will thicken - so you may want to keep some extra stock (or water is fine) on hand to thin it out a bit the next day.