Vegetarian Split Pea Soup (Recipe)

The vegetarian split pea soup recipe coming together
on paper as it happened in a stockpot nearby.

As I mentioned yesterday, I've been cooking a ton since we moved to Vermont.  Until now I haven't been keeping good track of what was cooked (or how) (or whether or not it was good).  So, yesterday, while making pea soup in my kitchen, I decided to actually write down my recipe as I went so that I would have it for future reference should I want it.

I often "do cooking" with a very Dr. Frankenstein approach -- aka I piece things together to make up my own version of whatever it is I'm cooking.  If I've never made something before, I look at a bunch of recipes to get an idea of proper portions, etc.  For example, for pea soup, I knew I wanted a bag of peas and some liquid base, but I had no clue what the ratio should be.  Recipes tended to say five, so I tried that and didn't like it and changed it to six.

Other times I literally make up recipes out of my brain (those are the times when there's the greatest danger they'll come out awful!) and those ones I really have no record of once I've made them.  It's like trying to remember to tell your best friend all about the really funny dream you had the night before -- by the time you're off the school bus, the details are gone and all you know is that you had a dream that was "really funny - I swear - it was like, laugh out loud funny."

It should be noted that the one of the only recipes I bothered to save was for a cocktail.

In any case this one came out tasting rather delicious, so I am transcribing my scribbled-down notebook recipe here for you in case you want to try it.  If one of us moved into the woods, we might as well both benefit from the delicious results!

Vegetarian Split Pea Soup ala Bricks to Sticks

Vegetarian Split Pea Soup


You will need: 
A large stockpot
An immersion blender
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/12 cups of baby carrots
2 white onions
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder (I like Coleman's)
3 dashes smoked paprika
5 dashes garlic powder
2 teaspoons "Better Than Bouillon" (or use chicken broth as half of your liquid base; or use chicken bouillon cubes)
6 cups of water
1 bag of split peas

Once everything's gathered, you will:
1.  Put your stockpot on the oven and add the two teaspoons of olive oil to it.  Turn it on medium and let the oil heat up.
2.  Slice or chop your onions.  I like rings but it doesn't have to be pretty - it'll all get blended and soupy later anyway.
3.  Once your oil is heated up, add the onions to the pot.  Stir them with a wooden spoon so they get coated in oil.  Let them sizzle.
4.  Measure out you carrots and add them to the pot, too.
5.  Let your carrots and onions cook up for a while.  Five minutes or so.  Then, add your bag of split peas to the pot.  Mix it all up.
6.  Now it's time to add your water as well as the rest of your seasonings (including the bouillon stuff)
7.  Bring the entire mixture to a boil and let it boil for two minutes or so, covered.
8.  Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook covered for 45 minutes.  If after 45 minutes the peas are not getting mushy, cook longer.
9.  Once everything's nice and mushy (idea! if you watch a romantic comedy while cooking, the tone of the movie and the consistency of the soup might coincide!), remove from heat and using an immersion blender, blend it all up.
10.  Take a taste.  I found it to need a bit more salt at this point, so I added some (and some extra pepper too for good measure - those two are so cute, never going anywhere without each other).
11.  Once it's all blended and any additional seasonings you want to add have been added, cook it for an additional twenty minutes or so or until it is at the thickness/soupyness (are those opposites?) that you desire.

From one of the many recipes I borrowed from to create mine, I got the idea to drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil and sprinkle a tiny bit of smoked paprika on it while serving.  According to Garret, this was a good choice.






.lsm