Do you believe there’s a lot
of psychology with respect to the color, texture, and appearance of food? About a decade ago, I was asked to help with
a large wedding reception in another state.
My job was to stand behind the buffet table heavily laden with brimming serving
trays and refill the containers when they were near empty. Since most caterers have an artistic and
creative flair, the one preparing this spread was no exception. SCC had cooked
up a couple of scrumptious sauces to go along with the two meat entrees and a
colorful salad. When it came time to
clean up after the bride, groom, and their guests had departed, the two sauces
and salad were virtually untouched, despite the fact that they were
delicious. Why, you might ask? It was probably because of the overall appearance of the ingredients. So, before you reject this hearty winter soup due to its color
~~ read on!
Sheila’s
Split Pea Soup
Ingredients:
- 2 cups dried green split peas
- Approximately 8 - 10 cups of water
- 1 cup finely chopped carrots
- 1 cup finely chopped celery
- 1 cup finely chopped onions
- 1 cup cubed ham, optional
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
- Salt and pepper, optional
- Directions:
- Carefully sort through the peas to remove small rocks or other debris.
- Rinse peas in a colander.
- In a large saucepan or stockpot combine the peas,
water, carrots, celery, onions, ham, bay and thyme leaves.
- Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat,
skim the top surface if it becomes “frothy”, cover, and summer until peas are
tender (which is approximately 3 hours).
- Sheila’s
suggestions:
- I usually double this recipe as it freezes
well.
- I cook the soup in a crock pot for
approximately 4 hours on the high
setting as opposed to cooking it in a stockpot on the stove top.
- Using the food processor, I blend the
carrots, celery, and onions together to where they are almost to the puree
stage before adding them to either my crockpot or stockpot. This seems to help the overall
consistency of the soup once it is finished.
- Since I don’t always have a bone-in ham, what
I have found to be the easiest and fastest is to purchase an 8 ounce package of
the already diced up ham. Some grocery
stores carry these handy dandy containers wherein the ham has been cut into
about ½ inch cubes or some are about ¼ inch cubes. If you can score the small cubes, they cook
up quite nicely in the soup.
The
Secret Ingredient:
·
The dried thyme leaves really enhance this
recipe! Years ago I made a large
container of this soup and took to a family engaged in the middle of fall
harvest. The husband, who originally
could not stand that “gaggy green soup”, could not get enough of it!
Suggested
Condiments: (I
would suggest experimenting with these to see which ones you might like. I would not use all of them at the same
time!!!)
- Diced tomatoes or salsa
- Large dollop of sour cream
- Fresh cilantro
- Coriander
- Seasoned croutons
- Parsley
Achieving the consistency
that you might like in this soup might be a fun exercise. My husband likes thick soup, you know, the
kind that you could throw against the wall and it would stick. I like it just about the consistency of
water. So my goal is the Happy Medium. Works every time!
If you have a variation to
this hearty winter soup, please leave a comment below.
Happy Reading & Cooking!
