gingered split pea soup

Yesterday's warming lunch: Gingered Split-Pea Soup with a Daiya Grilled Cheddar Cheese on Udi Gluten-Free Bread with spinach.

A whopping 13 inches of snow, on top of snow, on top of ice. The biggest snowstorm Philadelphia has seen in ages. I'm not a fan of this weather – and I worry about the two feral cat colonies I help care for [I'll tell you more in a future post]. The best antidote, besides moving to a sunny climate, is a hot, comforting bowl of steaming hot soup. I could eat soup every day. In fact, I regularly make huge batches, freeze the leftovers, and thaw them so I always have an interesting rotation of soups for lunch and dinner.

I heart soup

Ginger is inherently warming, so I added some to my go-to Split Pea Soup recipe. It infuses this winter staple with a little somethin'-somethin' [That's a technical culinrary term]. Basically, it gives your regular pea soup a little kick. Hope you enjoy it. Here's to the fact that spring is only a month away!

My kitchen blackboard drawing. I added the caption last week. Ciao, Frosty!

GINGERED SPLIT PEA SOUP

• 1 T olive oil
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 organic celery stalks, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced

• 6 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

• 1 T soy sauce
• 1 cups dried split peas [Use 1 1/2 cups if you prefer a thicker soup[
• 8 cups vegetable stock [I recommend Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base]
• 2 T white wine


Serves 6-8

In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium. Sauté carrot, celery, onion, garlic and ginger until soft, about 10 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Simmer covered for at least one hour, or up to two hours. About 15 minutes before serving, stir in the white wine and remove lid.

Enjoy this soup as is or puree or partially puree it with an immersion blender [I do the latter.]