A TANTALIZING AROMA of SOUP

What you do during Christmas holidays in B.C.

This Christmas we went to Granville Island for lunch at the Sandbar Restaurant.

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Savella Stechishin says, "In Ukraine, a meal would be incomplete without a soup course.  Be the family rich or poor, soup is a daily must."

Savella offers 2 recipes for Pea Soup (Horokhivka).

According to Sophie Hodorowicz Knab, peas, in Poland, were “a major staple from ancient times”.  She also says that pea soup is “one of the oldest and most popular of Polish soups.”

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Do you feel guilty, when you boil vegetables, about all the vitamins you are pouring down the drain?

Then stop!  Save the water from those boiled vegetables to make thick and creamy

 SPLIT PEA and CILANTRO SOUP

2 cups yellow split peas

9 cups water or vegetable stock

1 cup finely chopped celery, with leaves

1 ¼ cups finely chopped onion

Salt to taste

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

½ tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin

½ tsp thyme

½ tsp marjoram

1 bunch chopped cilantro (a cup or more:  this is a great way of using up extra cilantro)

1.       Rinse the split peas, drain, and put in Stock Pot.

2.      Add water, celery, and onion.  Bring to the boil, remove scum, and lower heat.  Simmer, covered, for 1 and a half hours until peas are very soft.

3.      Add salt to taste.  (If you used unsalted water, start with a teaspoon.  Then add more, if needed.)

4.      Add lemon juice, pepper, cumin, thyme, marjoram, and cilantro.  Cook 10 more minutes.

5.      Drain into a large mixing bowl and reserve liquid.  (It’s easier to purée vegetables when you include only a small amount of liquid.)  Spoon batches of the peas into a food processor and blend.  Put blended peas into a clean, large cooking pot.  

6.      Add the reserved liquid to the blended peas and stir.

7.      Reheat before serving. 

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Best Wishes to my cousin, Kathryne Leschasin, on her 18^th birthday!