Split Pea Soup (Vegetarian)

from Cooking Light, December 1999

Well, I haven't posted anything in a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking.  I need to be better about actually posting these things.  But recently I made some split pea soup that came out pretty good, so I thought I'd share it with everyone.  Granted, it's not as good as my version that has smoked ham in it, but for the vegetarians in the audience, this one's a runner up.  And as they say, hunger is the best sauce, so since I wasn't prepared to run to the store for ham hocks, this worked out quite well.  I lifted the recipe from Cooking Light, December 1999, and made only minor revisions.  What I think was interesting about the recipe, other than the opportunity to use my stick blender, was the 'gremolata' that you add to the soup as a garnish at the end.  And for the 99% of you who have no idea what that is, read on.

• 1 1/2 cups green split peas (I used yellow for a change of pace)
• 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 cup diced carrot
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic cloves, divided (about 3 cloves)
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary, divided
• 1 teaspoon paprika (I used the smoked variety)
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 4 cups water
• 2 cups homemade vegetable stock or 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon salt (omit if you use particularly salty broth)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream

The prepared ingredients

Sort and wash peas; cover with water to 2 inches above peas, and set aside. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, and bay leaf; sauté 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 2 teaspoons garlic, 1 teaspoon rosemary, paprika, and pepper; cook 3 minutes. Add tomato paste and soy sauce; cook until liquid evaporates, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.  Don't rush this step - make sure you get the moisture out to the point where you start seeing browning.  Of course, don't go too long, or you will burn the tomatoes and it will quickly turn from amazing to ruined.

Saute the vegetables and herbs with the tomato paste

You want the liquid to evaporate out, and end up with this almost sticky paste before you add the broth.  This is where the flavor really comes from - you're caramelizing the sugars in the tomato paste.  This awesomeness is called fond.

Drain peas.  Now you get to deglaze the pan with the liquid, freeing all of the awesome caramelized bits from the pan and dissolving them into the awesome soup base that will follow.  So add the water and stock, stirring to scrape the pan and lift that fond off the surface.  For the record, this works best with a hot pan and really cold liquid, and can be quite a violent addition if you aren't careful.  Then add the peas and salt (if you're adding salt) to the mixture, and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 1 hour, stirring often.  Don't worry about the peas breaking up, you're going to puree it anyway.  Discard the bay leaf after the soup is cooked - you don't want to blend that up.

The mixture, before simmering

The soup, mostly done but before pureeing

And now my favorite part of the recipe - the pureé step.  You CAN place the soup in a blender or food processor and process until smooth, working in batches to keep the blender from getting too full.  OR, you can break out your trusty stick blender and just have at it!  That's one of those tools you shouldn't own, and never get to use, but when you finally do it's awesome.  I mean come on, look at the picture!  That soup hit at least Mach 3.  Anyway, if you use a regular blender, make sure to cover it with a towel, because hot soup does not like being put in a narrow cylinder and agitated, and will definitely try to get back at you by spewing forth and burning off your arm skin.  However you do this, pour the pureéd soup into a bowl when you're done.

Yes!  Power tools introduced to cooking!  Whip out your stick blender and get in there.

To serve, combine 1 teaspoon oil, 1 teaspoon garlic, 2 teaspoons rosemary, and parsley.  This is basically a gremolata - an herb mixture added as a garnish, though traditionally it contains lemon zest and goes on meat.  Stir this parsley mixture into soup.  Spoon the soup into bowls, top each with sour cream, and serve!.

Herb gremolata, before adding to the soup

The final product, garnished and ready for presentation