Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Split Pea Soup with Bacon ~ The Smokin' Hot Librarian



This homemade Split Pea Soup with Bacon reminds me of the character, "The Smokin' Hot Librarian." 

You know the one in movies and on TV who seems initially unattractive...

The nerdy, book loving woman with pinned back hair, knee length skirt and freshly sharpened pencil tucked behind her ear...

The one who five minutes into the show is tossing her horn rimmed glasses, loosening the buttons at the top of her shirt and carelessly releasing her uptight, trademark bun...

With generous chunks of rendered down, smoky, uncured bacon and the love you'll put into each and every stir...one spoonful is all you'll need to appreciate this seemingly mundane soups... undeniable sex appeal!

Split Pea Soup with Bacon, my own adapted over time *you could easily 1/2 this recipe - this makes a ton!

1 lb dried split peas (picked over to remove tiny rocks etc, soaked overnight in cold water)
1/2 pound (+) really good, quality smoked bacon, chopped
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 cups of onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 heaping tsp cumin
8 cups chicken stock
kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

Drain and rinse peas. In large stockpot, render down bacon, about 5 minutes. Remove bacon and place in bowl, set aside. (Drain bacon on paper towels if it's especially greasy.) Also carefully remove some bacon grease from the bottom of the pot only if you're left with LOTS of grease. The bacon I used was not especially fatty so I skipped this step.

Add onion and garlic to the pot and saute up in the bacon grease until soft, about 4-5 minutes.  Add the carrot and celery and cook, folding together, about 4 minutes. Add cumin and stir for 1-2 minutes. Add peas and stir until well incorporated. Add bay leaves and chicken stock and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Once boiling, turn down heat to a simmer, cover and cook until peas have "busted open" about 45 minutes to an hour. Soup should look like it was Braun'ed.

Turn off the heat, find and discard bay leaves, stir in the sexy bacon.

Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

11 comments:

Courtney said...

Love the comparison to a hot librarian! You had me at bacon... :)

Katerina said...

Yes I've seen movies like that. In fact as a teenager sometimes I imagined I was transformed from a clumsy teenager to a hot woman. I guess many girls at that age have dreams like this. I love your soup.

Nuts about food said...

mmmmh...I love pea soup and bacon. It really is much "hotter" than it looks! And anyhow, it doesn't even look too bad to me ;o)

The Food Hound said...

I am definitely going to try this-- I love ham and bean soup, but EarthFare doesn't have smoked, cured ham very often, and I'm wierded out by supermarket ham after watching too many "the state of the meat industry" movies :) So BACON is the perfect solution (isn't it always?)! This will be perfect in the winter!

Simply Life said...

ha, this soup looks great and I love the post! :)

Andrea the Kitchen Witch said...

YES! I love split pea soup! Its totally the sexy librarian of soups!!! Every time I make it my husband is underwhelmed until he tries it - then he becomes a very happy man indeed :) Your soup looks great, I'll have to try your recipe soon! Sounds delicious :) And sexy :)

Clint said...

YES! YES! YES! This is the crockpotted, hearty, life-giving sustenance I'm talkin' about! UH HUH...get that stuff nice and thick and man-friendly.

Weather's gettin' cooler and this is perfect for us guys...bacon, onion & garlic, amen.

PS...can I have some more bread? Thank you.

Unknown said...

Thanks all! I do the quality of the bacon is crucial here! We have a pork farm (somewhat) near by whose bacon makes everything it touches UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

@clint - If you click on the picture, you'll see more bread! :)

Jaime and Jen DISH said...

oh wow, YUM! I love split pea and have always used a hamhock but this is so many easier when you don't have a hamhock. Thx, looks great...definitely going to try this.

Mags @ the Other Side of 50 said...

WOW... I will never think of split pea soup in quite the same way ever again.

And... I'm going to make a point of showering and digging out my fourth grade librarian glasses before serving this to hubby.

Syd said...

Excellent analogy, and much less offensive than those I've used for this soup. :P

Great suggestion for fall.