It’s hard for my ego to accept, but there are certain things I can’t do in the kitchen (sorry to let you down loyal Scordo readers, but it’s true). I count making soup and baking as two kitchen tricks I just can’t pull off. Baking is an exact science with little room for ad-libbing and it just doesn’t fit with my cooking style and on the soup side of things I live with a soup master (viz., my wife).
If I attempt to make soup in my house it’s the equivalent of going out to play a set with Roger Federer; that is to say, most tennis players can move, hit a forehand, and get through a few sets, but at the end of the day most tennis players will lose to Federer. And this is essentially how I feel about attempting to make soup in the Scordo household – I’m just going to lose or make an inferior soup if my wife is present. In turn, here is my wife’s pear soup recipe:
- 1 cup of dry peas (organic dry peas have better flavor and will improve your soup greatly)
- 2 carrots chopped
- 2 stalks of celery diced
- 1 small onion diced
- ½ large potato or 1 small potato chopped
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 4 cups of purified water
- 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- Saute your veggies in the olive oil with a bit of Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (until soft) and thereafter add the peas and water. Bring mixture to a boil and simmer for an hour. That's it, you're done.
- I like freshly grated cheese and some extra, freshly ground, black pepper in my pea soup. We had a crisp Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region in New Zealand (still a bargain wine but getting more and more expensive) with our pea soup.
I hear you here. My wife is the soup master as well, but I can make a mean pasta fagioli!! Pea soup was a dish my Nonna made all the time, sometimes with diced ham, sometimes without. Great comfort food, especially on a crisp autumn day!
Be sure to make large batches so you can freeze some of the soup. This will save you time and energy costs in the long run. 🙂
Vin: Interesting post. Having discussed this with my mother, pea soup is about taste and texture. Suggestion for adding body: barley. The interpretations on how to make the soup are like lasagna, cheesecake, etc.
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