Let It Snow!

We finally have snow in Saint Paul and I finally, sort of, have time to update my blog. I am sorry for the long abscence but things have been hectic at Yarn! Yarn! Yarn!.

Today it took me twenty minutes to reset my password just to be here typing now. I am glad that so many of you have enjoyed www.whatthompsthinks.blogspot.com in the meantime. My man has time to blog because I make all of the meals around here but I will not get into that today.

Here is a new soup recipe that I made for the first time last week. Jeff, H and I loved it. I did not even bother serving it to G and F as it would have been dismissed as too spicy. The original recipe called for just water but a Penzey's employee suggested using the broth and I chose to skip the sausage all together. If you do not have access to a Penzey's, or The Spice House , the ingredients on the side of the jar include; coriander, garlic, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, brown mustard, red pepper, jalapeno, cardmon, tumeric, Tellicherry black pepper and cloves.

Vindaloo Soup
From Penzeys Spices, my apologies to The Spice House in Milwaukee

1 pound bag dry yellow split peas
1 quart water
2 quarts chicken broth, low sodium
2 tablespoons Vindaloo Seasoning
2 tablespoons water
2 bay leaves
1 small pinch saffron (15 threads or so)
2 medium onions, minced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup rice vingegar
5 medium to large potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
3 large cooked sausages, about 1 pound, such as grilled Polska kielbasa-Polish sausage
1-2 teaspoons sugar
2-3 teaspoons salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Wash yellow peas well. Place in a soup pot, cover with water and chicken broth, bring to a simmer with bay leaves and saffron. Place Vindaloo seasoning in 2 tablespoons of water, let stand while mincing the onions. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, when hot, add onions, and cook, stirring to brown-3 minutes or so.

Add Vindaloo paste to the pan, cook stirrring, 1 minute. Add the onion/Vindaloo mix to the soup pot. Pour the rice vinegar into the skillet, which will dislodge the tasty browned bits from the pan, and add to the soup pot.

Simmer one hour, stirring regularly so the peas don't stick to the bottom of the pot. Peel and cut potatoes into bite-sized chunks, chop sausages into bite sized pieces, and add after one hour, along with 1 teaspoon sugar and 2 teaspoons of salt.

Cook another hour, at which point the peas should be pretty much dissolved and will have thickened the soup. Taste the soup, and add extra salt and sugar if desired. Serve with good, thick crusty bread ( Yeast Phobic bread comes to mind)for dunking and have a pepper grinder on the table for everyone to grind pepper on top of their bowl as desired.

Serves: 8-12
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours