Split Pea Soup

Oh my goodness gracious. I have just fallen in love with split pea soup. I'd never had it before and it has a horrible reputation (i.e. The Exorcist). But for some strange reason I had a mad urge to eat it today. Now I firmly believe and will rely heavly on my female intuition because this was one of the best ideas I've had in a long time.

The soup honestly is perfect: three ingredients, lots of nutrition, delicious, and it probably cost me less than $2 to make the whole pot. The taste of this soup literally stopped me in my tracks. First, I couldn't believe how silky the texture was. Also, the flavor was surprisingly complex for the few ingredients. And just two ladels-full was incredibly filling.

Start by sweating a small yellow onion in some olive oil with salt until soft.

Rinse one cup of split peas and add to the onions.

Then add 3 cups of water and 1 veggie boullion cube (or straight water, or veg stock). Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove half the soup and blend, then mix back in with the other half. Finish it off with salt and pepper to taste.

The beautiful green bowl of goodness would be perfect if you ended there. But maybe you have a weird compulsion that you can't have a meal consist of only one color. If that's the case, you can add a lovely poached egg and grated parmesan cheese. It might be the perfect winter supper.

I did have a lengthy internal debate about white vs. red wine with this dish. As you can see, I went white and it was a nice pairing. Something about the hot soup with the chilled wine - it worked.

PS - I got the recipe from 101 Cookbooks, but I halved it because I'm getting smarter in my old age and I finally realized I don't have to cook for an army. And I just now realized I forgot the lemon juice that the original recipe called for. Oops, I guess it didn't bother me too much.

Split Pea Soup w/ Poached Egg

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup green split peas, rinsed

3 cups water

1 veggie boullion cube

Sweat the onion and salt in olive oil until soft.

Add split peas, water, and boullion cube and bring to a boil.

Lower heat and simmer 20 minutes.

Blend half the mixture and then mix all of it together.

Finish with salt and pepper to taste.

Top with poached egg, grated parm, and serve with grilled bread and wine.