Yellow Split Pea Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups dried split yellow peas, picked over and rinsed
6 cups water
one tablespoon additional virgin olive oil
two sizable onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
three cups water

one 7-ounce container of greek yogurt
1/2 cup shredded unpeeled cucumber, (deseed before shredding)
one clove garlic, mashed and minced
scant 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
sizable pinch of salt

chopped olives
more olive oil to drizzle

Technique:

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a sizable saucepan, add the yellow split peas, and cook for twenty -30 minutes, or until tender. Drain, salt to taste and set aside.

Add olive oil to a sizable pot over med-high heat. Stir in onions and salt and cook until the onions soften, a minute or. Add the cooked split peas and stock/water. Bring to a simmer and let cook for a couple of minutes. Now remove from the heat. Using a sizable cup or mug ladle half of the soup in to a bowl and set aside. Using a hand blender (or regular blender) puree the soup that is still remaining in the pot. Stir the reserved (still chunky) soup back in to the puree - you ought to have a soup that is nicely textured. In case you need to narrow the soup out with more water (or stock) do so a bit at a time. Give the soup a taste, if it needs more salt, add more a bit at a time until the flavor of the soup pops.


Meanwhile make the yogurt topping by mixing together the yogurt, cucumber, garlic, mint, and salt. Set aside.


Ladle soup in to bowls or cups, and serve each with a generous dollop of the yogurt, a drizzle of olive oil, a touch of chopped mint (any that was left on the cutting board), and a sprinkling of black olives.


Serves about four.