Split Pea Soup: Sympathy for the Toddler

Yesterday Little Z and I arrived home to the perfume of split pea soup wafting through the apartment. I had done my best to build up the idea of soup for dinner, and I had hopes that she might actually, as she so delicately phrases it, “put it in the mouth” (accompanied by gesture: wide open mouth, finger pointing toward).

On the way home we had established that we would have cheesy bread, grapes, and yogurt as well as soup for dinner. So the cheese, fruit, and yogurt food groups would all be well represented. These represent the greater part of Little Z's current diet.

I’m not going to keep you in suspense here, people. Little Z did not eat the soup. She took one look at that lumpy green mess and said, “No eat soup.” And then repeated that about 50 times. There was one moment when I dipped my cheesy bread into the soup and took a bite when Z got interested and briefly held out her cheesy bread and said, “dip?” But by the time I shoved my bowl toward her, the moment had passed. “No eat soup.”

I have to admit, I have some sympathy for the toddler. Split pea soup is not inherently delicious looking. I recognize that it takes time and experience to understand that this ugly stuff is actually good to eat. So it’s cool, Little Z. Maybe next time you’ll take a taste. Or the time after that.

For myself, I thought the soup turned out well, if not amazing. I based what I did on this recipe from Chow.com, except that I subbed in bacon for the ham bone, used my homemade turkey stock instead of low-sodium chicken broth, forgot to add the parsley even though I had some in the fridge, and follwed techniques learned from America’s Test Kitchen on the mirepoix. Also, it came out a bit more watery than I wanted – I like a split pea you can stand your spoon up in – so in the future I will cut the 2 cups of water. I don’t know if it’s my slow cooker or what, but I find that I often need to cut the liquid in recipes.

Here’s the recipe as I will make it next time. There will be a next time – this is good, easy, healthy, filling, cheap, and freezes well: really all that I want from a meal.

Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup
Adapted from Chow.com
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium celery stalks, sliced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
2 slices thick cut bacon, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
1 lb dried green split peas
2 sprigs Italian parsley
4 c chicken or turkey stock
Salt and pepper

1. Put carrots, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaf, bacon, and some salt and pepper (you know how much you like) in a bowl and stir. Microwave for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice, until veggies are slightly softened and bacon has rendered some of its fat. [If desired, put this in the fridge overnight and assemble the soup in the morning.]
2. Arrange split peas in the slow cooker in an even layer (I don’t know if this matters, I’m taking Chow’s word on the technique). Add bowl of mirepoix etc. and spread on top of peas, then add parsley and stock. 
3. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or the length of time it takes to go to work and come back home.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Enjoy, and ignore what your toddler has to say about the appearance of this yummy soup.  It’s supposed to look like that.