Vegetarian Split Pea Soup

Day 93

Pea soup is another dish I used to make a lot, only with ham rather than just vegetables. I love it, but Laura is not a fan, so she had leftover casserole for supper. I did too, but only like half a serving. A coworker had brought split pea soup for his lunch on Friday, which inspired me to make some over the weekend. Thanks, Ken!

Vegetarian Split Pea Soup

I love pretty much all soup, and I especially love a thick broth. I didn't want it all pureed, because I wanted some chunky vegetables, but I wanted the thick broth, so I divided it, pureeing half and leaving half chunky, then combining them. I based this one loosely on this original recipe. 

Ingredients

2 cups yellow split peas
3 large carrots
2 medium potatoes
2 onions
5 small cloves garlic
2 boxes vegetable broth
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp rubbed thyme
1/2 tsp dried bay leaves
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp sea salt
2 cups water

Most of the ingredients for split pea soup

Directions

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil on medium and add the diced onion. Peel and dice the carrots and add to the pot, give it a stir. Peel and dice the potatoes and add to the pot, give it a stir.

Peel and mince the garlic, create a well with the other ingredients and drop garlic in the middle, so it touches the bottom of the pot. Give it a few seconds, stirring it a bit, then stir into the rest of the vegetables. Allow to sauté while stirring another minute until the garlic smells fragrant, and then add 1 box of vegetable broth and 1 cup of the split peas.

 5 small cloves garlic

Sautéing onions, carrots, potatoes & garlic

1 cup split peas

Boil until the peas and all the vegetables are soft.

Split pea soup before pureeing half

Divide the mixture in half, and add a couple cups of cold water to one of the halves help cool it more quickly then transfer to the blender and puree it. Leave the other half of the mixture in the saucepan.

Soup before pureeing

Pureed soup

Blender Trick

Transfer the pureed half back to the saucepan. It will be very thick and you could scrape down the sides or instead, you could open the second box of vegetable broth and pour about 1/3 of it into blender and whiz it up to make the remaining thick broth more pour-able. This is a trick I always use when making a thick soup. Pour the much-thinner mixture into the saucepan, as well as the rest of the second box of vegetable broth. Bring back to a boil, stirring often, and serve.

I made way more than I intended. I hope it freezes well.

Vegetarian Split Pea Soup

Reviews/Comments

Super good. This is similar to the pea soup I remember, but not the same as having the ham version. Not that I miss the ham, but it's not really like having the same meal. However, it is good, and I look forward to my lunches this week!

I rate this soup a 9.