Making Soup

A couple of years ago I got a mental message which very clearly, out of the blue, said "Make soup". So I started making soup. A few months later, someone told me about a local soup kitchen that needed people to make soup for homless people in our area. Now I make soup with a friend of mine, about 20 L. at a time. I find it both satisfying and relaxing. Here is a recipe for Split Pea Soup that I like a lot.

Split Pea Soup:

For every 2 L. (or 2 qts.) of soup:

1 lb dried split peas (450 grams)

1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk - all small dice

1/2 tsp dill
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp chopped rosemary
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper to taste

Use a nice stock - either a chicken stock or a stock made with ham, smoked pork hocks or smoked turkey legs; reserve the meat when making stock for adding to the soup. If you want to make a vegeterian version of this soup, use a good vegetable stock instead.

Tips on making stock
When making stock from scratch, take the meat off the bones after it has cooked for no more than an 3/4 of an hour and continue simmering the bones for a stronger stock. If you simmer the meat too long all the goodness will be in the stock and the meat will taste like rubber. For even more flavorful stock, add some coarsley chopped onion, celery, and carrots. Be careful to simmer the stock very gently, don't let it boil. Strain the finished stock through a fine sive and store in the refrigerator over night. Skim off as much fat as possible before re-heating the stock to make your soup.

Add the split peas to stock and simmer for about an hour. Skim off any foam that floats to the surface.

Saute the vegetables in butter and olive oil with the spices and add to the soup. When I'm making 20 L. of soup I do this in three batches.

Simmer for another hour or so until peas are mostly mush and vegies are tender. Add reserved meat at the end.

Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

This soup keeps well refrigerated for at least a few days, and is even better when left in the refrigerator overnight and reheated the next day. It also freezes well.

For a little extra flavor, garnesh with crutons, yogurt or sour cream.