Sunday, November 15, 2009

I Heart Cooking Clubs : Yellow Split Peas and Frankfurter Soup



Well if your men are hungry and you do not have much time : try this soup ! It's flavourful and I both my men ate it with pleasure !! I did too while Anita ate only the frankfurter part !
I found the recipe here but I'copy it too because my dear friendEnza complains that she has to travel too much 'cause of me !! (at least she doen't complain for not translating !!)

Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 onion 500g
1 carrot
1 clove garlic
1 stick of celery
2–3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ground mace
500g yellow split peas
1.25–1.5 litres chicken or veg stock
2 bay leaves
approx. 8 frankfurters
Serving Size : Serves 6–8

METHOD

1.Peel the onion, carrot and garlic and cut the onion and carrot into rough chunks. Put them all, along with the roughly cut up stick of celery into the bowl of a food processor. Blitz till all are finely chopped.
2.Spoon the oil into a heavy-based wide saucepan and put on medium heat.
3.When warm, add the chopped vegetables from the processor and cook for 5–10 minutes, until soft but not coloured.
4.Add the ground mace – this may be a small amount but it’s crucial to the taste – give a good stir and then add the split peas and stir again till they’re glossily mixed with the oil-slicked, cooked-down vegetables. Pour over 1.25 litres stock and add the bay leaves, then bring to the boil. Cover, turn down the heat and cook for about an hour until everything is tender and sludgy, adding more stock as needed. Sometimes the peas seem to thicken too much before they actually cook and need to be watered down. Taste for seasoning once everything’s ready.
5.You can add the frankfurters as you wish. It’s probably easiest just to cut them into slices – I tend to add them in chunks of about 3cm each – and throw them into the soup to warm, but I just put them into the microwave (40 seconds on high is about right for one or two franks; fiddle about with times when there are more), then slice them hot and add them to each person’s bowl as they come. Not an elegant soup, I’ll admit, but a near-perfect one.