Canadian Habitant Soup

Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 300 g split peas, soaked in cold water overnight & drained
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 2 celery ribs, diced
• 2 leeks, thoroughly washed and sliced
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 300 g rindless bacon, rashers sliced
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 4 cups chicken stock, reduced salt is fine
• fresh ground pepper, to taste

Recipe

• 1 place split peas, carrots, celery, leeks, onion, garlic, bacon, thyme, parsley and stock to cover in a large pot. put lid on, bring to the boil and simmer rapidly for about 1 hour, or until the peas are very tender.
• 2 blend the soup and season to taste. serve sprinkled with a little pepper with warm crusty rolls.
• 3 chef's notes: terrill has commented in her review that split peas do not need to be soaked. from my experience of using split peas, i would agree: i have never soaked split peas before, but that's what huey specified in his recipe, and that bit i retained, though i have modified the recipe in other ways. some people always salt eggplant before using it; others don't etc. etc.! so if you are making this recipe, feel free to decide on this point for yourself!