Split Pea Soup
One of the fun and interesting parts of my day over these weeks has been reading and seeing what everyone has been cooking.
Some of the delightful features have been exclamations such as ‘look at this or that’ among freshly prepared assorted baked goods from those claiming not to be good bakers. Others shared dishes of specialties they have always wanted to prepare, cultural delicacies, or just making the best from a few simple pantry ingredients. In some ways, there have been blessings in having the time to stop and smell the roses.
As for me, along with realizing that I’ve never posted a recipe for basic Split Pea Soup, I had been cooking plenty over the month while my Grandson, the J-Dude was with me in Las Vegas.
The Dude is now fourteen. That special age where you look at them [insert here] child, grandchild, a family friend and think to yourself: Who are you? And what have you done to my [insert here] child, grandchild, a family friend?
Fortunately, Nevada is spacious, bright, and sunny so the daily afternoon hikes offered the respite highlight for fresh air and exercise since few places were open beyond grocery stores, drug stores and an occasional thrill of the drive-thru.
Being Spring, beyond the ever-enduring mountain majesties and vast blue skies were the desert landscapes dotted with cactus and other shrubbery bursting forth in hues of deep pinks, yellow, and orange.
There are a variety of walking trails besides mountain bases. While the hiking areas remain open we couldn’t really drive out to the initial places I would have liked to share due to bathrooms and restaurants being shut down once we would arrive at such destinations.
Pacific to Atlantic Time Zones ensured early rising for school telelearning each day so before I would move to sit and sitting and sitting while waiting for the days scheduled class and classwork completion, I would prepare the evening meal.
Green Split Pea Soup with a cup of ham is healthy, hearty, and very economical to prepare which has always made it a great go-to for family meals. Only requiring some basic staple ingredients, once cooked, I transfer around a cup of the cooked Split Peas to a bowl while processing or blending the remainder which provides a creamy split pea soup with just a nice amount of texture.
With Jason returning home to Atlanta last week, I’ve got a couple of creamy green Split Pea Soup containers in the freezer for future meals. These will likely come in handy since such pathetic little re-opening progress has been occurring throughout this state despite over one hundred degree temperatures and daily beating sunshine. These stepped up ‘added precautions’ this week come literally and precisely on the heels of a battle between the governor of the state of Nevada and the Mayor of Las Vegas who was made to appear as a fool for noting the insanity of not re-opening the city. It is insanity. While the Casinos no doubt will need to adhere to certain added precautions, we are in summer temperatures here. Wasn’t summer clearly stated numerous times by the medical experts as being the time of respite from this disaster? There comes a point in the road where you finally have to wonder and acknowledge things. Like Patrick Henry once said, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.”
Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- one-pound green split peas, rinsed and picked through for debris
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
- 1 large stalk celery, strings removed, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked from stems
- 1 cup cubed cooked ham, 2 tablespoons reserved
- 4 cups chicken broth
- coarse kosher salt
- cracked black pepper
Instructions
- On very low heat, warm olive oil in a large-sized soup pot
- Tumble in the onions, carrots, and celery and cook around five minutes to soften vegetables
- Stir in the garlic and fresh thyme leaves, cook another few minutes
- Add in the split peas, stir through with ingredients
- Pour in chicken broth, stir
- Increase heat to medium-high and cook soup for thirty-five minutes
- Stir in the ham cubes and continue cooking soup until peas are tender and cooked through around fifteen to twenty minutes
- Remove one cup of the split peas to a bowl
- Working a batch at a time, transfer remaining soup to a food processor or a vita-mix, blend until smooth then return soup to the pot
- Stir in the reserved bowl of cooked split peas
- Chop the reserved ham cubes into very small pieces topping evenly between the bowls
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