Ingredients:
(please see below as a very rough guide, I never manage to keep to exact measures when it comes to soups and this is precisely why I love making them and I hope that you will too)
2 celery sticks
a few peppercorns
2 bay leaves
a tiny bit of salt, (although to be honest I rarely cook with salt these days) roughly
200-250 g of split yellow peas depending on how thick you want the soup to be
roughly 1 liter of water (you can use chicken or vegetable stock instead)
1 medium onion
2 carrots
200g of unsmoked bacon with as little fat as possible
3-4 medium potatoes some dill or parsley to serve
Preparation:
1/ Put celery, bay leaves, peppercorns/salt and yellow split peas in the water. At this point you can use your own chicken or vegetable stock instead. Bring to the boil, cover with lid and simmer for about 30 minutes letting the peas soften. If there is too little water left after 30-40 minutes, add some boiled water.
2/ Dice your onion/ carrots and bacon.
3/ Lightly fry the onions till soft and golden, add carrots and bacon and fry till the bacon starts to lighten in colour. I prefer not to fry too much but you may want a stronger taste.
4/ Place onion/carrot/bacon mix into the simmering stock with peas.
5/ Boil for further 5 minutes
6/ Dice potatoes and add to the water
7/ Simmer till potatoes are well done and almost melting. It can take upto 15-20 minutes.
8/ Add some roughly chopped dill or parsley and serve.
I always make a big pot that lasts for a few days. You can easily freeze this soup and reheat when needed.
Happy eating.
