Yellow Split Pea Soup - Recipe

This is one of those soups that will warm you to the core. Yellow split peas are rich and buttery. They cook down to a thick porridge like consistency.

I've noticed that split peas are kind of hard to find.  They are usually located near the canned and dry beans, in one pound bags.  If you can't find them near you stock up the next time you get to a bigger grocery store.  These little unassuming peas are worth the trouble.

Normally I use a chicken stock as the base however, I have some locally produced bacon on hand for a recipe I want to try that I saw over on Closet Cooking.  Buying bacon was a bit of splurge, but I'm doing really good with the grocery budget.  The bacon adds some savory smoky flavor that I am really enjoying. It makes the soup heartier. It makes me think of Gone With the Wind when Scarlet finds out Johny Galigar is selling off the food she sends over for the men working the saw mill. "Without side meat, beans have got no strength," she tells him. Well this soup has strength.

I fried up the bacon and left all the dripping in the pan to sauté the vegetables.  To add some different textures I also threw in an onion, garlic, carrots and spinach.  (I think chard or kale would be even better, but they were out when I went to the store.) Then I added water and the yellow split peas.  And let everything cook together until the peas were falling apart.  Then I took the soup off the stove and added the bacon back in.  I didn't cook the soup with the bacon because I wanted the bacon to retain its own flavor.  Meat that has been in a soup too long imparts all its flavor to the soup and winds up just being chewy no-flavor bits. 

The finished soup is just what I want on a cold winter's day, or a mild spring day, or a cool fall evening, but probably not a hot summer's lunch.

Yellow Split Pea Soup

1 pound dry yellow split peas

5 strips bacon

1 onion, diced

1 tablespoon garlic

1 bunch fresh spinach

3 carrots, diced

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoons thyme, dry

2 bay leaves

Step 1:  In a five quart pot, fry up the bacon.  Then set the bacon aside and leave all the grease and drippings behind.  Then add three quarts of water, salt, bay leaves and the yellow split peas. Bring the peas to a boil, then reduce heat and cover and let simmer for an hour or so. 

Step 2:  When the peas are starting to turn translucent and fall apart, sauté the carrots, onions and garlic together than add them to pot.  Throw in the spinach, thyme, black pepper and stir it all together.  Continue to let it simmer - until the peas have lost their form and are mush. 

Step 3:  Finish the soup by crushing the bacon into small bits and then stirring it back in.