I loved reading the George and Martha stories by James Marshall. Their first short story is about split pea soup. (Here’s where you should skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want any spoilers.) Martha loves making split pea soup more than she loves anything else and sometimes she makes batches and batches of it all day long. George, her best friend, loves anything BUT split pea soup, although he never mentions that fact to Martha. So while she’s busy bringing him bowl after bowl of the stuff, he’s trying to find clever new places to dispose of it, most inconveniently in his loafers! That would be a big mess I’m thinking. So, naturally, Martha discovers him in the act of hiding his soup, and they realize they’ve been duped by a clear case of poor communication and too many assumptions. Martha doesn’t really love split pea soup; she only makes it because she thinks George loves to eat it, and George only pretends to love to eat it because he believes Martha loves making it so much. See the conundrum?! Oh I used to laugh and laugh at their discovery and think to myself, “Why didn’t George just tell Martha he doesn’t like split pea soup?” As I think about it now all these years later with the advantage of perspective and time I wonder if perhaps this story is at the root of my own failed communications with significant others. Hmmm. Well, that’s clearly another post for another time.
Meanwhile, what’s not to love about a good pea soup? The peas, right? At least that’s what I hear from folks. It’s a texture thing. It’s a who’s got time to make pea soup thing. Not to worry. You have come to the right place because
- There are no split peas in this soup.
- The texture is smooooth – no chunks of peas, no thickness whatsoever, you can drink it from a cup and with a straw if you like.
- No time? No problem. This is ready (from scratch) in about 20 minutes.
All you need to have on-hand are frozen peas, a red onion (I suppose you can use a yellow one if that’s all you have, but I love the sweetness a red onion provides), and Better Than Bouillon. Once you chop your onion, there’s practically no more work involved. You’re on the home stretch. I wouldn’t lead you astray. You can do this. And your kids will love it; mine does.
You’ll notice pictures of potatoes next to the soup. My daughter named them Boi (pronounced boy) Potatoes, and you can read all about them here. I had this crazy idea that they would taste phenomenal in this creamy pea soup, and I was right! But don’t feel obligated to include them. It will make for a heartier soup, that’s for sure, but my daughter didn’t like me messing with tradition and so chose to eat her potatoes separately from her soup. But the prep time is about equivalent and while the soup was simmering, I had the potatoes in the oven and everything finished at the same time. Perfect.
