Impromptu Split Pea Soup

I interrupt this personal retrospective to bring you a random recipe.

Weather today: constant warm rain. I chose to walk home rather than take the bus, splishing my way through every puddle I could find. By the time I arrived the fog was rolling in. Thankfully I had a plan and materials on hand to make it happen…

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, very finely diced
• 3 large or 6 small cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 3 Tbl bacon fat (which naturally you save in your fridge)
• 1 lb dried split peas
• 2 qts roasted pork stock (I can’t be the only person to keep this on hand)
• 1 lb smoked sausage (kielbasa, etc.), cut into small dice
• juice of one lemon
• salt
• freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Melt the bacon fat in a dutch oven or large heavy pot then sauté the onions and garlic until soft
2. Add the peas and stock. Bring to a boil then drop to a simmer, slap a top on it and let it bubble away until the peas all break down (an hour or so). Go check the net or something.
3. Add the smoked sausage, replace the top and let bubble for another half hour or so. Once more with the net checking.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste
5. Stir in the lemon juice
6. Nom

This pushed all the right buttons tonight. It was warm, stupid easy to make and very, very tasty.

Ideas for future changes, should I feel like actually working at it rather than just tossing it together on a foggy weeknight:

• Though the sausage is pre-cooked, get a good brown on it first before adding it to simmer in the soup.
• Consider garnishes. Creme fraiche? Caramelized onions? Chervil?
• Hit it with the immersion blender (aka “motorboat”) before adding the sausage. The onions/garlic were small and soft but still apparent.
• Man, wouldn’t a fresh, hot slab of soda bread slathered in melting butter have been a nice addition?

Anyway, that’s your random (and impromptu) recipe. Hopefully the next post will be the car one that I promised earlier (though I’m sure most of you prefer reading the recipe).