Split Pea Soup + Garlic Croutons

A hearty, chunky soup is the perfect comforting meal on a chilly night. I adapted this recipe from 101 Cookbooks. Heidi Swanson has a whole list of amazing soups, but the vegetarian split pea soup sparked my interest tonight.  I switched up the ingredients a bit, but the general idea remains the same.

To make this soup, you will need the following ingredients:

soup:

• 2 cups of dried split peas
• 6 cups of vegetable broth or water (I used 4 cups veg broth, 2 cups water)
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 clove chopped garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• pinch of cayenne
• juice of 1/2 lemon (save a bit of the lemon zest)
• sprinkle of paprika
• sea salt and pepper to taste

croutons:

• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 slices of thick whole grain bread (I used Ezekiel buns)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• sprinkle of sea salt

OK lets get down to business, people. Get a big pot and put a tbsp of olive oil in it. Throw in your chopped onions and a pinch of salt and cook on medium heat for a couple of minutes until the onions are soft. Add your veg broth (or water), the dry split peas, 1 clove chopped garlic and chopped carrots.

Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the split peas are cooked al dente.

While you’re simmering the soup, you can get started on the croutons!

Cut up your bread into cubes.

Preheat oven to 350. Put cubes of bread onto a baking sheet.

Mix 1 tbsp of olive oil with 2 cloves of chopped garlic. I pureed mine in the magic bullet so it had a creamy consistency, and then drizzled it over the bread pieces:

Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the croutons start to slightly brown. Remove from oven and set aside.

Now back to the soup!

When the peas are al dente, pour 1/2 of the soup into a blender and puree it. Leave the other half in the pot. Once 1/2 is pureed, add the 2 halves back together to get a consistency that is soupy and chunky. Add the lemon juice, cayenne and sea salt/pepper to taste. Add more water or broth if a more liquidy consistency is desired.

Pour into a bowl. Sprinkle with paprika, drizzle with olive oil, and garnish with the lemon zest on top. Voila!