Pea, Onion and Broccoli Soup, with Chard

Split pea soup was one of my Dad's favorite dishes, but something I never learned to like. It always just tasted of dust and salt and, I don't know, sadness?, to me. Every so often, Julie will ask me if split pea soup sounds good, and I say, no, it will never sound good. If you want to make it, I will eat it, but I will never be excited about it.

And so it came about the other week that we had an abundance of broccoli and notions of making it into a soup. Julie was in charge of finding the recipe, and, after disqualifying the countless milky and bland cream of broccoli soups she found, she looked inside the modestly titled The Best Ever Vegetarian Cookbook, which she had purchased on clearance a couple months back after falling for its many lovely and helpful pictures (Julie being a visually oriented cookbook shopper). There, she found a recipe for Pea, Leek and Broccoli soup, which sounded tasty enough, since the peas would be (frozen) fresh, rather than dried and split. Leeks, however, are expensive at the moment, and we didn't have any in the house, so I decided to substitute onions and to up the flavor component by caramelizing them. I made it for our friend Monique along with a quick saute of chard, and Julie enjoyed the leftovers the next day.

It was amazing. The sweetness of the peas really complemented the deeper green flavors of the broccoli and the sweet richness of the onions brought it all together. You could grate a sharp cheese over the top of this, or just enjoy it with some toasted bread. I may make it again in a couple of days. Here's the adapted recipe.

Dice one large onion and saute in a dutch oven or sturdy soup pot with two tablespoons olive oil and one tablespoon butter over medium-low heat until soft and brown, about fifteen minutes (part way through, you may want to deglaze with some wine and add three or four cloves of garlic, sliced). Add one quart vegetable stock and two medium potatoes, diced. Bring up to a boil, stirring to work in any caramelized bits. Cover and simmer about ten minutes. Add half a pound of fresh broccoli, cut into one to two inch pieces, and one and a half cups frozen peas. Cover and simmer ten minutes more, stirring occasionally. Blend the soup to your desired consistency. (I used a hand blender, so it still had some texture to it, which we enjoy. For smoother puree, work in batches with a blender.) Season with salt and pepper and garnish to your heart's content.