Yay it's fall......pea soup!

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navigator9

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I love all the fresh veggies of summer, but as soon as fall hits, I start craving good, homemade soup. And with my mother being French Canadian, I grew up on lots of pea soup. Since I've retired, I've been waking up at some ungodly hours, so there I was at 5 this morning making pea soup. I threw in all the regular stuff, and I had a piece of ham steak, so I diced that and added it, and then, because I'm a lover of all things hot, I tried something new. I took a habanero pepper, cut an X in it's bottom, and threw it in the pot while the soup simmered. When it got soft, I smooshed it against the side of the pot to release it's juices, then took it out. I just had some for lunch, and oh yum, was it ever good. Not fiery hot, just that little bit of habanero underflavor, those of you who are habanero lovers know what I mean. Any other pea soup lovers out there?
 
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Not a habanero lover here, but a definite lover of pea soup and all things Autumn!
I swear my grandma made the best pea soup ever. It was probably from a can, but it was still the best, haha. Pea soup with a side of buttered toast, yum yum! :D
 
Sounds delightful minus the pepper. pea soup is a favorite of my husband and I. I make it frequently when the weather cools throughout winter. Total comfort food time.
 
Yesterday I made bean and ham soup. I still have some ham bone and broth so pea soup is next. I made bread dough in the bread machine, and took it out at the dough stage and made bread bowls. I took out the inside bread for the "bowls" to hold the soup, and cubed the tops and insides to grill with a bit of butter - used that like croutons. Delicious!
 
Umph!! I am jealous, that it is cool enough were you live for Soup. I love soup but we are having 95 º + here. So no soup until probably December. Our family favorite is Farina Soup. I always called it the Romanian version of Matzo Ball Soup. Farina makes a much better dumpling versus Matzo Meal
 
I love home made soup. Sadly, I've never had pea soup but I do make really good butternut squash soup with some cayenne and black pepper in it. You guys are making me to want to try pea soup. I would love your recipe navigator, I will just cut out any meat and dairy from it. Early morning, soup breakfast, hmmm! I must definitely try.
 
Umph!! I am jealous, that it is cool enough were you live for Soup. I love soup but we are having 95 º + here. So no soup until probably December. Our family favorite is Farina Soup. I always called it the Romanian version of Matzo Ball Soup. Farina makes a much better dumpling versus Matzo Meal

Sorry it's so hot out there. We're still above normal, but getting cooler, at least at night. The cooler fall weather really makes me want a hot bowl of soup. Your farina soup sounds yummy!
 
This thread is making me think of Linda Blair. :D

But I love a good potato & leek soup

I looooove potato and leek soup!

Oh man, I love home made pea soup, with big chunks of tender ham in it. Nav, I love the habanero idea (but, you know how I am!) You guys are making me hungry.

I'm telling you, you wouldn't have a problem with this. It just imparts a tiny bit of it's habaneroness to the soup. Habaneros, as well as heat, have a wonderful, fruity, underflavor, and if you just cut an X in the bottom, and leave it in the pot, you wouldn't have to squish it like I did, it just gives a little heat and a lot of flavor.....really.You can do it! :)

I love home made soup. Sadly, I've never had pea soup but I do make really good butternut squash soup with some cayenne and black pepper in it. You guys are making me to want to try pea soup. I would love your recipe navigator, I will just cut out any meat and dairy from it. Early morning, soup breakfast, hmmm! I must definitely try.

Here you go, V......take a one pound package of dried, split peas and rinse in cold water, looking for any little pebbles to remove.

Dice an onion, some carrots, garlic, and celery. I'm sorry not to have exact amounts, to me, soup is using whatever you have, but I would say a medium onion, two or three carrots, several cloves of garlic, and a couple of stalks of celery. I don't usually have celery on hand, so like today, I just left it out. No problem. But according to my mother, the bay leaves are NOT optional. :)

Saute the veggies in a little oil, not to brown them, but just to soften. Add two big bay leaves. Drain the peas and add them to the pot. Add about 5 cups of vegetable broth or chicken broth, again this is not a fussy "recipe." I start with 5 cups of broth, but watch the pot to see if it looks like it needs more. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer. I like my pea soup thick. It should simmer slowly for 1 or 2 hours. Again, this is a personal preference. Some people like the peas more intact, some like them to be more mushy. I like them mushy. So if this is your first time making pea soup, you may want to taste as you go, to see what you think. Likewise with salt and pepper....if your broth is salty, you may not need much. Watch it to see if it needs more broth. I always start out with a little less, because you can add more, but if it's too watery, you're stuck with watery soup.

Now if you're not going to use meat, I would make sure you use a really flavorful vegetable stock. I've also used curry powder in my pea soup, it was delish.

For those of you who do eat meat, if you have a ham bone, or you can buy a ham hock at the store, you can use this to flavor the soup. When I haven't had either, or like today, some ham steak, I've used bacon. I have also used diced smoked sausage, browned well. One other tip, if you ever make what my aunt always called a "boiled dinner", this consisted of a Daisy ham, boiled in a big pot with a head of cabbage, quartered, several potatoes, also quartered, an onion, quartered, carrots cut in about 2 in pieces. Then add a couple of bay leaves, about two teaspoons of whole peppercorns and about 6 or 7 whole cloves. Simmer til everything is tender. Serve with lots of grainy mustard, at least that's how I like it. But when you take everything out of the pot....save the water it cooked in. This makes the BEST pea soup I've ever had!

I'm sure everyone's pea soup recipe is different, but I'm also sure that they're all good. Pea soup is one of those dishes that warms you to your bones! And really, with soup, no matter how you make it, it's hard to go wrong. Enjoy!
 
Thank you for the recipe navigator, now I've to go shopping for split peas, I'm assuming they are green. I have whole dried green peas and yellow ones but no split ones. I've to say, this resembles my butternut squash soup recipe, I also use onions, carrots, garlic and celery in my soups and always eyeball them too. The squash soup is ready pretty quickly though.
 
I And with my mother being French Canadian, I grew up on lots of pea soup.


My maternal grandma was French-Canadian, and she made wonderful pea soup (so did my mom), and it was always one of my favorites... still is, too. They always made theirs with yellow peas.

Pea PSA: Just a heads-up for those who have never made pea soup from scratch with dried peas- be careful if buying dried peas from bulk bins, or bags of dried peas past their 'use by' dates. Older, dried peas do not cook very well, if they cook at all, as I found out a couple of years ago when I bought some dried yellow peas from the bulk bin at Whole Foods. To make a long story short, if your dried peas ever take much more than 45 minutes to cook into a lovely soup, they will probably never cook......even if you have them on a gentle simmer for 3 hours. Yes- I actually let them go as long as that, and they remained hard little rocks. Up until then, I had never had that happen to me before when cooking pea soup. After a bit of Googling after the fact, I learned that you just can't teach an old, dried-up pea that's past it's prime to soften up. I only buy bags of peas with 'use by' dates on them nowadays.

I'm a huge lover of all kinds of soup (except for seafood soups) and I will eat them no matter how hot the weather is, especially homemade soups (I just can't help myself!).

I'm always throwing all kinds of things in my soaps, but I've never tried putting hot peppers in my pea soup before. I will definitely have to try that, because I do love spicy things. As a matter of fact, one of my favorite spicy soups to make (and eat!) is Albondigas Locas- yum!


IrishLass :)
 
Thank you for the recipe navigator, now I've to go shopping for split peas, I'm assuming they are green. I have whole dried green peas and yellow ones but no split ones. I've to say, this resembles my butternut squash soup recipe, I also use onions, carrots, garlic and celery in my soups and always eyeball them too. The squash soup is ready pretty quickly though.

V, do you roast the veggies for your butternut squash soup? I make one, too, and roasting makes it really easy, because I hate peeling those things!!! I oil a baking sheet, cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and put it face down on the sheet. Then I take a granny smith apple, quarter it, a medium onion quartered, some carrots, some garlic cloves, toss them in oil, salt and pepper, and roast them. When they're done, let cool, and the squash is super easy to scoop out of the shell. Put everything in a blender, including any juices in the pan, and puree. Add about 2 cups of vegetable or chicken broth, this will vary depending on how thick or thin you like it, and how much vegetables you uses. Then, if you like it creamy, add about 1 cup milk, or half and half. Actually, I like to use non fat condensed milk, the kind in a can, I think it gives a richer taste. I used to make this soup without roasting the veggies, but I think roasting gives it a wonderful flavor, it's one of my favorites, along with curried pumpkin soup. And yay, it's pumpkin season, time for some of that too!
 
I had seen recipes calling for roasting, but I'm a lover of single pot dishes. So I peel the squash and cut into chunks. Then I cut the other veggies in to big chunks. I get some sort of roasted flavor by searing them in the stock pot, in go my salt and both peppers then the squash chunks. Then cover them with 'gasp' water, bring to a boil and simmer. They get mushy in 15 min tops. I blend it with my SB in the pot after adding- 3-4oz of FF cream cheese in my pre vegan days, 1/2 cup of cashew cream now. I have seen recipes calling for 2 full 8oz blocks of cream cheese, but then it stops being a soup for me, not a healthy one anyways.
I have used apples in this soup along with some ginger, was delicious. I also use potatoes in it quite regularly because I like my soups thicker. This season, I will try roasting the veggies. I already love me some roasted veggies and can make a meal out of them along with some roasted tofu. Man, I should go produce shopping now.
 
Mmmm we love pea (and lentil) soup so well we pressure canned a bunch of it! Wif chunks of ham and carrots... I like to put smoked dried spicy pepper powder in the soups for a little ooomph, but leave room for fresh ground pepper on top just before serving! I can NOT wait till it gets cold here!
 
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