57-59 Club Garden Rd, Sheffield, S11 8BU

Back to basics this week with a simple, hearty and very healthy soup. Yellow peas/lentils bring a lovely flavour but if you want a quicker process go with split red lentils which don’t need soaking and boiling first. This soup is great with dark rye bread – either Tower of Bagel’s or Forge’s Dark Peak.

Split pea and veg soup

Season: AutumnWinter

Ingredients

1½ cups dried yellow split peas

Big chunk of swede, peeled and diced (about 2 cups in volume)

1 medium potato, scrubbed and diced

2 large carrots, scrubbed and diced

1 large onion, chopped coarsely

2 or 3 sticks of celery, chopped (reserve leaves for garnish)

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

Olive oil

Ground cumin 1 or 2 tsp to taste

Caraway seeds (optional) 1 tsp, toasted and ground with mortar and pestle

Veg stock

1 tbsp butter

Salt and black pepper

Topping/garnish:

Toasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds

Chopped celery leaves

Greek or natural yogurt

Method

Soak the split peas overnight or at least a few hours. Rinse well.

Put the peas in a large pan, cover with plenty of water and bring to boil (don’t add salt at this stage). Skim the frothy stuff off the surface and discard. Simmer until peas are softening but still have bite. Turn off heat, drain and set aside.

Heat a large heavy-bottomed pan and add 2 or 3 tbsp. of oil. Add all the chopped veg except the garlic and sweat on medium-high heat for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the garlic, cumin and caraway and stir well to combine, cook for 3 or 4 more minutes.

Add the semi-cooked peas, the butter and enough veg stock to cover the whole mixture, with an additional inch of liquid on top. Bring to boil and then lower heat to a simmer. Cook until the veg and split peas are nice and soft. Add more stock or water if you need to. Season with salt and pepper.

Blend the soup with a stick blender until it’s getting a bit silky but still retains some textures.

Serve with toppings.

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