Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Rosemary Split Pea Soup with Bacon

I LOVE split pea soup, especially with bacon.  I had wanted to make this for a long time but was put off by the long cooking time.  Recently, I’ve been going through a soup phase, which was further deepened once I bought my first Dutch oven (love!).  Now I make this soup all the time!  Yes, it takes a while to cook, but it’s pretty easy to make and freezes okay so I just make a batch over the weekend.  When my sister was visiting for the holidays I made this for her (along with the two batches of dark chocolate cookies she demanded from me) while she went to my gym.  By the time she came back, my apartment smelled amazing and I was exhausted.  But it was all worth it when she couldn’t stop raving about the soup!  We had planned to eat only a little bit of the soup and then eat Christmas leftovers but we ended up eating all of the soup for lunch instead!  

Servings: 6 servings (but my sister and I polished it off between the two of us in one meal so I guess that means we each had 3 servings and I usually make this for two dinners)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups green split peas
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup diced carrot
5 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon minced garlic cloves, divided
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary, divided (you need fresh rosemary - this makes the soup!)
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
4 cups water
4 cups vegetable broth
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
4 slices bacon, chopped into ¼ inch pieces
¼ tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
¼ cup low-fat sour cream (optional)

Instructions:

  • Sort and wash 1 ½ cups green split peas.  Cover peas with water to about 2 inches above the peas and set bowl aside.
  • Heat Dutch oven over medium-high heat and either spray with cooking spray or heat 1 tsp of oil. 
  • Add 2 cups onion, 1 cup carrots, 4 slices bacon (chopped), and 1 bay leaf.  Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
  • Add 5 oz mushrooms, 2 tsps garlic, 1 tsp rosemary, 1 tsp paprika, and ¼ tsp black pepper.  Cook for 3 minutes.
  • Add 1 tbsp tomato paste and 1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce.  Cook until liquid evaporates and scrape the bottom of the Dutch oven to loosen up the browned bits.
  • Drain the peas and add the peas, 4 cups water, 4 cups of vegetable broth, and 1 tsp salt.  Bring soup to a boil and then cover and reduce heat.  Simmer for 1 hour, stirring often.
  • In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp garlic, 2 tsps of rosemary, and ¼ cup fresh parsley.  Mix together until combined and set aside.
  • Uncover soup and discard bay leaf.  Now some people like to blend half of the soup in a blender or food processor but I like my soup chunky and after cooking for an hour everything gets really soft and is already pretty mushy.  This is purely a textural preference.  
  • Stir in the parsley mixture into the soup.  
You can top the soup with a dollop of sour cream if you’d like, but I really like this soup on its own.  I did the dollop the first time I made it but now I don't use it. I love making this soup for cold wintry days.  It’s delicious, satisfying, and extremely flavorful.  I’ll be sad when it’s summer and it’s too hot for me to make and eat this anymore!
Poor pugs.  I love to torment them in my efforts of getting a photo of them with my food.

Adapted from My Recipes.

3 comments:

  1. This sounds A-mazing!! Split pea has always been one of my favorite dishes. I'm totally going to try this!! Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. This has become one of my favorite soups and I can't wait till next fall when I'll start making it again! Hope you enjoy it!

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  2. An amazing recipe and indeed it will be a worthy shot to try it. I want to ask that can we cook it without bacon or some alternative as its hard to get it our area.

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