Soup. In a snow storm I think that it is perfectly natural for one to desire a good home made soup. So I sought out to make an awesome soup today, and decided to whip up the best soup that I know of – lentil soup. I make a killer lentil soup in a pressure cooker, a recipe that I learned from my Dad and the Joy of Cooking. But there was a problem: no lentils. Oh I could just go to the store and get some… oh crap, there is 20 feet of snow on the ground – everything is closed!

I was downtrodden. Disappointed! Dispirit! Oh wait! I have yellow split peas! Those kind of look like lentils… why the hell not? But I don’t know any split pea soup recipes, and I don’t feel like learning anything new. Lets just replace the lentils in the recipe with split peas and maybe cook it all a bit longer. Genius!

I made this soup and it turned out awesome. In the pressure cooker the soup came out with a great consistency and the chipotle pepper powder gave it a nice little smokey after taste that I loved.

If you want to give it a shot, try my Snowmagedeon Split Pea Soup.

3 tablespoons of bacon fat (or olive oil)

1.5 Medium onions, diced

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

Heat the pot and melt the bacon fat. Add the onion and garlic with a dash of salt and let it all cook for a minute or until translucent (but not caramelized). Add the whole bay leaf in there at some point in this process. Add:

3 medium carrots, peeled and diced

3 stalks of celery, diced

1 teaspoon of dried thyme

1 sprig of fresh thyme

a dash of oregano and a dash of basil

Cook until everything is tenderish, but not too long. Add a little more salt. Things should be smelling pretty good and you will start thinking that you can pull this shit off. Add:

2/3rds of a 28 oz. can of Diced Tomatoes

1 Lb (2 cups) of Dried Yellow Split Peas (rinsed and sorted)

8 Cups of Chicken Stock

Throw these three ingredients in there and stir around a bit to get everything acquainted. If you have a pressure cooker, put the lid on and bring the soup to a boil and let it cook for 15 minutes at pressure. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, simmer covered on low heat for probably like an hour or two.

Turn off the heat and let the pressure cooker settle down on its own. When it is ready, open it up and give it a stir and turn the heat of the burner back on to low, then add:

1 of those cooked sausages that you can find at the grocery store (diced)

1/2 teaspoon of chipotle powder

1 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper

1 teaspoon of balsamic vinagar

Let this all cook together covered for another 20-30 minutes and then you should pretty much be awesome. That will give the sausage time to soften up and loosen up some of that fat that is in there, and it will also give it time to blend in that chipotle flavor quite nicely.

Serve in a warm bowl (or a regular, non-warmed bowl) with a dollop of sour cream, a dash of hot sauce, and a sprig of fresh thyme.