Instead of going out to a bar after my shift ended to booze and socialize until my BF got out of work, I manned up and went home to make dinner. I still had some of my farmer's market celery in the fridge which HAD to get used, along with the potatoes that I had bought in hopes of doing more slow-cooker meals. The freak snow storm and subsequent power outage--and lets face it, the hangover I had on Sunday--really cramped those plans as I had to chuck my frozen meats. So, I rummaged through my bin of dry goods and found some dried green peas leftover from last winter's soup adventures. I poked around and found some recipes for pea and potato soup, and this is what I came up with:
Pea & Potato Soup
1T grapeseed oil (or butter)
1 large onion, diced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
4 stalks of celery, sliced
1lb dried split green peas
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 liters H2O + 1/3C red wine* (or you could use stock)
1t Hawaiian Red sea salt (I had it, and since I was using plain water instead of stock, I used this in hopes of adding flavor)
1t dried Italian seasoning
1t cayenne pepper
Garnish
-freshly ground black pepper
-crushed red pepper
-sour cream
Saute onions for approx 5 min in grapeseed oil, I like to do this directly in my soup pot. Add garlic and celery and saute until onions are nicely translucent and celery is tender. Add your water/wine mixture (or stock) then the peas and potatoes. Crank the heat to high and bring it to a boil. Stir and lower to a simmer for 30 min.
Next is the fun part: if you are smart enough to own a hand blender, use it! I actually do own a hand blender but I use it for mixing ceramic glazes. Or, blend the soup in batches in a standard blender, but be sure to leave a bit of texture so it seems more like a hearty soup than baby food.
Return soup to pot and warm it up just a bit; stir well before you serve, as separation does occur--and I do think this is one of those soups that is better the second time around, as the texture will improve. Garnish individual bowls with a little sour cream and pepper. Serve with bread and olive oil/butter, and beer (I opted for Saranac Big Moose Ale). I think that beer is important here because it's such a light vegetarian soup, you'll need the beer to help you fill up. Think of blazing-hot fires in stone fireplaces...in dark Irish pubs with low ceilings on a cold and wet winter night!
*So, back to the stock issue: I don't like using store-bought stocks and broths because they kind of gross me out and contain lots of sodium, weird ingredients, etc. I may make my own sometime in the future, as I get more and more adventurous with cooking meat. As for the veggie kind I do like the Trader Joe's low sodium veggie broth packets, but I tend to be out of those more often than I actually have them on hand. The Bloodroot cookbook calls for 1T Tamari soy sauce to be added to soup, generally after the simmering/blending step. I left my Tamari at my parents house when I moved out, so I opted for some red wine. I do think a nice Balsamic would have done the job as well.
In other news, I made the chocolate "dump" cake again, this time for my Grandma's 80th birthday party. I used 2 tier round pans, and it's a little short cake. I'll be decorating it tomorrow with my friend Danielle. I sawed off the top of the lower layer, for storage and transportation reasons. And this is a yummy cake!!! So please refer to earlier posts for that recipe!
