Old Fashioned People-Food

I realize it's been a while since I wrote a good, down-home post about yummy food - not fancy, hip-widening baked goods or even arty-farty doggie cookies, but good, honest, nourishing people-food. So it's about time I rectified that with a few musings on soup: split-pea soup, to be exact.

I live in New England and, given that January is not traditionally the warmest month of the year, I decided that tonight was the perfect night for stick-to-your-ribs green pea soup from none other than Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Vegan Table



Now, for the price of a few split peas, onions, potatoes, veg stock, sundry herbs and an hour of your time, you end up with this:





To achieve this effect here's what you need and what you do...

You will need:

2 cups green split peas, rinsed and picked over
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, diced
6-7 cups vegetable stock
2 creamy potatoes, diced
2 celery stalks, chopped
1tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp liquid smoke

salt and pepper to taste


What you do:

This is simplicity itself!
Put everything, apart from the salt and pepper, into a large soup pot and cook for about an hour. Serve.


I had mine with a fresh salad and I'll confess that I think it's absolutely the best vegan 'pea and ham soup' (as we knew it back in Ole Blighty) I've ever had!




Try it - you'll see what I mean!

Stay vegan, friends!

Jumping on The Table

Please forgive me if this is a case of jumping on the bandwagon but I can refrain no longer from saying a few words about the newest addition to my cookbook arsenal - Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's 'The Vegan Table'.



I am lucky enough to own a copy and it has opened my eyes to all manner of new taste sensations. With the emphasis firmly on sensations!

Divided into occasion- and season-themed chapters, The Vegan Table gives menu and recipe guidance for every occasion - from a romantic night-in for two to catering a formal dinner for ten. Now it is true that I personally will never be in the position of having to cater such a large gathering - the anxiety would just about kill me! - but, with a mite of common sense, each recipe can easily be scaled to your specific requirements.

And, for me, what elevates this above the myriad other cookbooks 'out there' are the supplemental sidebars - the mini discussions of common issues for vegans such as turkeys and Thanksgiving, embracing our ethics, and consciousness-raising. It is so much more than a recipe book: it's a survival guide....and a mighty elegant one at that!

Check it out and stay vegan, friends!