Recipe: Andersen's Split Pea Soup

One of my fave soups is split pea. Jim had it 4 times a week for close to a year when he was a young'un, so he was very apprehensive about me trying this recipe. However, against his better judgement, he allowed me to have my fun and brew up a batch of this childhood favorite. Much to his chagrin, he enjoyed it, and even went back for seconds! Guess this one will be added to our recipe box, and will pull it out every now and then.

I did a google search for split pea soup and ran across the recipe for Andersen's, which is a restaurant in California, and was very happy with the result.

What you need:

2 quarts water
2 cups split peas (14-16oz bag)
1 branch of celery, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp thyme
pinch of cayenne
1 bay leaf
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

I put all of this into a large pot and turned it up to high.

Bring it to a hard boil for 20 minutes. It will start to look frothy like this:

Reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until peas are soft and start falling apart. Once the peas are starting to get a bit mushy, remove the bay leaf and either push all through a small sieve or you can do like I did, and dump it into the food processor and pulse until all the big chunks of veggies are broken up.

Transfer back into the pot and bring back to a slow boil.

When serving, add a pinch of paprika to the top and enjoy!

Just an added note, this didn't need any ham, it's pretty hearty, so if you are looking to go meatless, this will do nicely. However, we are carnivores and will be adding ham next time.



Recipe: Homemade BBQ Sauce

Indoor BBQ is something we have to do regularly here in Alaska. We've done this BBQ sauce for the past 2 years and love it. It's so simple and tastes so much better than what you buy in a bottle. There is also so much you can do with this to change the flavor, leave out the hot sauce and add honey, etc. Very yummy!



What you need:

1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 Worchestershire sauce
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 dashes hot pepper sauce
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all of these into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before brushing onto your favorite meat.





We used chicken for this meal, but this would be good with pork, brisket, or any other meat you choose.

We also had red potatoes pan fried in olive oil, fresh garlic and rosemary. We cubed about 5 medium sized red potatoes, heated up olive oil in a pan, added fresh pressed garlic, then the potatoes and rosemary.



While the potatoes were cooking, we set the broiler to high, and put 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half in with just a touch of salt and pepper.

Cook these on each side until the pink is gone, then start brushing on the BBQ sauce, adding more and turning every few minutes. Once the chicken is just about done, turn the broiler to low and allow the BBQ sauce to caramelize before turning and allow the other side to do the same.

With this we had an Argentinian Malbec and it went perfect with the spice of the BBQ sauce!

That's it! Enjoy :)