Split Pea Soup

I made this soup last night and it is to die for. It has the earthy flavor of the split peas mixed with the sweetness of the onions. There is a dollop of cucumber yogurt and chopped black olives to garnish the soup. I think the next time I eat this I will leave out the olives. They kind of take away from the fresh flavors of the soup. On top of being really tasty it was super easy to make. This soup is very filling and hardy. I also want to add that I couldn't find the yellow split peas so I used the regular green split peas and I'm really not a huge fan of mint so I left that out and it still came out awesome. The notes on the recipe are from the writer of the following blog. I got this recipe and others from a great blog called http://www.101cookbooks.com/index.html.

Yellow Split Pea Soup Recipe

I wrote this version of the soup instructing you to cook the split peas separately, this way if you want to double the amount of split peas you cook, you can save half for some other use. You can use a vegetable stock if you like in place of the water. I've mentioned before that I like Rapunzel Herb Bouillon with Salt (available at many stores), I use about 1/2 of one cube in a soup like this to kick things off - it makes a nice, light but flavorful broth. If you want to go 2% on the Greek yogurt, that is fine. You can find yellow split peas in the bins at many Whole Foods Markets (or natural food stores).

2 cups dried split yellow peas, picked over and rinsed
6 cups water

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
3 cups water

1 7-ounce container of greek yogurt
1/2 cup shredded unpeeled cucumber, (deseed before shredding)
1 clove garlic, mashed and minced
scant 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
big pinch of salt

chopped olives
more olive oil to drizzle

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan, add the yellow split peas, and cook for 20 -30 minutes, or until tender. Drain, salt to taste and set aside.

Add olive oil to a big pot over med-high heat. Stir in onions and salt and cook until the onions soften, just a minute or two. Add the cooked split peas and stock/water. Bring to a simmer and let cook for a few minutes. Now remove from the heat. Using a large cup or mug ladle half of the soup into a bowl and set aside. Using a hand blender (or regular blender) puree the soup that is still remaining in the pot. Stir the reserved (still chunky) soup back into the puree - you should have a soup that is nicely textured. If you need to thin the soup out with more water (or stock) do so a bit at a time. Give the soup a taste, if it needs more salt, add more a bit at a time until the flavor of the soup really pops.

In the meantime make the yogurt topping by mixing together the yogurt, cucumber, garlic, mint, and salt. Set aside.

Ladle soup into bowls or cups, and serve each with a generous dollop of the yogurt, a drizzle of olive oil, a touch of chopped mint (any that was left on the cutting board), and a sprinkling of black olives.

Serves about 4.