Split Pea and Vegetable Soup

Yellow or green split peas will do for this deliciously thick and substantial soup.

Serves 6

Split Pea and Vegetable Soup

Ingredients
½ lb (225 g) green split peas, washed
3 oz (75 g) butter or bacon fat
4 oz (110 g) streaky bacon, rinded and chopped small
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 large carrot, scraped and chopped
½ small turnip, peeled and chopped
½ small swede, peeled and chopped
3 pints (1.7 litres) stock or water
Salt and freshly milled black pepper

Method

First, in a large cooking pot, melt the fat, then cook the bacon and onion in it for 5 minutes before adding the rest of the vegetables – give them a good stir round in the butter and let them colour a little at the edges over a fairly low heat. Then pour in the stock and add the washed split peas.

Bring everything back up to simmering point, skim the surface if there’s any scum, then put a lid on and continue to simmer very gently for about 11/2 hours, or until the peas are absolutely soft. Now liquidise the soup just a little (or else sieve it) – but it shouldn’t be too uniformly smooth. Taste, season, re-heat and serve the soup garnished with some croutons crisp fried in bacon fat. Note: There’s no need to soak the split peas, but the length of cooking time may vary 30 minutes or so either way.

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