I look forward to cool weather just so I can eat soup, and during the last weeks of winter when the days are becoming warmer I make sure I enjoy soup as much as I can….Vegetarian Split Pea Soup is a favorite as it is simple and wholesome.

Split Pea Soup

1 cup of dried green split peas – soaked for 2 hours in 1 cup of water

4 tablespoons of olive oil

1 onion – diced

1 garlic clove

1 large carrot – grated

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons fresh thyme

2-3 cups of water

salt and pepper

Method

Soak split peas in a bowl with one cup of water for 2 hours (or more). After soaking your peas, they will turned a lovely bright green colour (see photo), they will have increased a little in size, and they will have sucked up some of the water you soaked them in. When they are ready to cook, prepare other ingredients:

Dice finely one onion. Peel garlic clove. Grate carrot. Pick leaves off thyme.

In a large sauce pan or pot, saute onion in the olive oil until onion turns clear. Add the grated carrot and ‘sweat’ the carrot and onions. This will only take a few minutes on high, stirring constantly. Add whole garlic clove and split peas (in the water they soaked in) and the bay leaves and thyme. stir and see how much water is covering the peas. This will depend on how much water the peas absorbed. Add 1 – 2 cups of water, enough so that the peas are well covered and can slimmer and then lightly boil for an hour. Add a generous amount of salt and pepper.

Allow to cook on medium to low heat for an hour. Stir occasionally to make sure there is enough water. If mixture becomes to think, add more water to achieve desired consistency. Also add more salt and pepper according to taste.

You will know the soup is cooked when the peas have broken down and can easily be squished to mush. At this point you can remove bay leaves and remove or leave in the garlic clove. If you leave it in you can press it easily now so that it dissolves into the soup. If you remove it, consider spreading it onto buttered toast to enjoy with your soup….yummy!