Recipe Free Soup

Recipe Free Soup

Every Monday we are in town I go to the Women's Cardiac Support Group. Since it meets from 6:30 to 8:00, dinner is sort of a problem. Now my mindfulness group is coming early to meditate or do yoga so I really am not here on Mondays to do anything about dinner but I am always hungry when I get home around 9:00.

Somehow it is a lot less work for me to make soup or pretty much anything without a recipe. We had a ham bone from Christmas and I had actually gotten far enough to buy some green split peas. So I quickly chopped up all of the onions we had in the fridge (about two onions) 2-4 good sized cloves of garlic. and 3 giant sized carrots. I sauteed that in a couple of squirts of olive oil until it was soft. Then I rinsed the split peas (about 2 cups--I think it was a one pound package). Then I added the partly-used chicken broth we had left in the fridge from making pork chops for Mary and Bob last Thursday plus a can of chicken broth and two or three cans of water. I tried to make the whole business about twice as deep in the kettle as it had been before I added liquid. I put in a bay leaf and about two tablespoons of basil and some tarragon and some pepper and brought it up to a boil. and then turned it down so it was barely boiling. Then it was time for me to go to support group. The flavor of the broth was already excellent at that point but the beans were sort of crisp-tender, the texture one wants in fresh cooked vegetables.

I'm afraid there there was a little disagreement between the members of the household about how to proceed. One of us thought that leaving the soup on the lowest setting would produce perfect soup a couple of hours later. The other thought that the soup tasted perfect as it was. It was good if the split peas had a little texture and besides this person was reluctant to leave the burner on while we were gone. I do not recall an admission that the goal was to conserve energy but I am suspicious. Well that person turned off the burner as we left.

Although the burner-turner-offer had had been home for over an hour when I got home the soup had not been cooked any more. The split peas were a bit softer although the broth was still clear. As I said, I am hungry when I get home from support group. It did taste very good. . I did turn the soup back on until I went to bed but I think the split peas were still a bit hard when I added two quarts to the soup stash in the freezer.

Next time I will start cooking the split peas in some water even before I start chopping vegetables.