Split Pea Soup from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

I have had great success with some of Ina Garten's soups lately. Most recently, last night in fact, I decided to try her split pea soup. As many of you know, my husband is a hunter and a fisherman, so we have plenty of wild meat and fish on our menu. I like to mix in my raw or vegetarian recipes too. I serve these to my team of testers (that would be my meat loving husband and four kids). If they like it, then I know it's good. My tastes tend to favor nutritional value over taste, although both are important. I do not like food simply for the taste of it though. If it's unhealthy, I typically don't enjoy it. But, if it's delicious AND healthy, well then, we have a winner.

Parker's Split Pea Soup from Ina Garten's book, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, hit the spot for everyone last night. I would say it actually did more than that. My whole family decided this was one of the best vegetarian meals I've made! I served it with salad and they wondered why I didn't make fresh bread to go with it. This is when I get to explain that "puffy food makes us puffy" so we only eat fresh bread here and there. I like to limit the amount of flour and grains we eat.

This is when friend e-mailed me Elana's Pantry gluten free bread recipe. It is made completely without grains! I haven't tried it yet, but do plan to make it today to go with dinner tonight! I'll let you know how that goes.

OK, here is the recipe for Parker's Split Pea Soup which I found on the Food Network Site.

Cook Time:

1 hr 30 min

Level:

Easy

Yield:

5 to 6 servings

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Times:

Prep

 10 min

Inactive Prep

--

Cook

 1 hr 30 min

Total:

 1 hr 40 min

Ingredients

• 1 cup chopped yellow onions
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/8 cup good olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups medium-diced carrots (3 to 4 carrots)
• 1 cup medium-diced red boiling potatoes, unpeeled (3 small)
• 1 pound dried split green peas
• 8 cups chicken stock or water

Directions

In a 4-quart stockpot on medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with the olive oil, oregano, salt, and pepper until the onions are translucent, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the carrots, potatoes, 1/2 pound of split peas, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Skim off the foam while cooking. Add the remaining split peas and continue to simmer for another 40 minutes, or until all the peas are soft. Stir frequently to keep the solids from burning on the bottom. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve hot.

 Note: I ladeled out a blender full of soup and pureed it. This gave the soup a thicker consistency like the split pea soup I'm used to.