Beautiful soup, so rich and green

I wonder if the soup of Lewis Carroll's poem was split pea soup, the richest and greenest soup I know. I made some last night, and had it for lunch today. It is a good soup for a cold winter day of undecided snow flakes- the flurries that wander up and down and sideways.

This soup is easy-

1 bag of dried split peas
2 cans of chicken or vegetable broth

2 cups of water

1 cup of diced ham (I used country ham.)

1 bay leaf
Sea salt to taste
2 garlic cloves sent through a garlic press
a quarter stick of butter
3 carrots- peeled and diced.


Start by putting the peas in a colander and washing them with cold water. Then put them into the soup pot along with everything else. Cover the pot and cook on medium heat until the soup boils. Lower the heat and simmer the soup until the peas melt to a puree. You will need to add more water from time to time until this soup is ready as the peas swell and absorb liquid. If you neglect to do this you will have green pea baby food. And that is it! Anyone has time to cook this through a snowy weekend afternoon. Serve it with grilled cheese sandwiches for a late lunch or supper.

I will go on the record as admitting that I use canned stocks. I do not think there is any shame in this. Julia Child talks about how to use canned stock in her "Way to Cook". In this case it may be that the perfect is the enemy of the good.