Green & Yellow Split Pea Soup
2/3 litres of stock - vegetable or chicken or a mix - basically enough to easily cover all the ingredients
Yellow and green split peas - several handfuls of each, mixed together
Spoonful of butter
4 thick rashers of bacon, rinded and diced
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
Celeriac, half, chopped in chunks
1 Parsnip, in chunks
1 large carrot, sliced
1 large leek, chopped
Several leaves of greens, shredded
Any celery top leaves
1 bay leaf
Sprigs of thyme
Salt and pepper
Soak the split peas overnight in a bowl.
Next day, put the stock in a large pot and add the split peas. Cover and simmer very gently for about 30 minutes, until fairly soft.
Meanwhile, heat 1 oz of butter in large frying pan and add the bacon. Fry till nice and brown. In another pan, fry the prepared veg, adding the leek, greens and herbs last. Cook over a medium heat until softened and nicely golden - this could take about 15 minutes.
Add the softened vegetables to the stock and split peas, add the bacon, add pepper and cover with sufficient liquid and simmer for a further 40 minutes, or until the split peas are soft.
When the soup is ready, keep some vegetables and split peas aside and liquidise the rest.
Croutons
Some diagonal slices of old baguette
Olive oil
Garlic or infused garlic olive oil
Heat the oven to 180C/160 Fan/Gas mark 4.
On a metal tray, pour the oil and then wipe the bread on both sides in the oil. Bake them in the oven for 15 minutes, no more. That’s it.