More peas, please!

This week's Alton Brown recipe attempt comes from Good Eats "Give Peas a Chance." Curried split pea soup! This is an interesting episode for another reason, too. AB's real kitchen appears in the episode. Although, he and his family no longer live in the house, at the time of filming, it was his residence.

Ok, enough with the GE trivia and on with the food.

I choose the split pea soup for a couple of reasons. First, it was very quick and simple. Second, I had only eaten split pea once before. It was good but didn't include curry powder, which I love by the way. And third, it was one of those recipes I wanted to try from watching the show.

The split peas were a regular 12 ounce bag from Kroger. I'm not that wise to the dried pea scene to know if there are better types or brands. After washing the peas and checking for forgien matter, I readied the rest of the ingredients.

One cup of chopped onion, a big pinch of salt and two tablespoons of unsalted butter began the sweat in a large sauce pan or small stock pot. The onion sweat for about three minutes then 0ne tablespoon of garlic is added. I used two cloves of garlic instead of measuring out a tablespoon.

Once the onions and garlic sweat for 1-2 more minutes, bring together the peas, 5 cups of chicken broth and one tablespoon of curry powder in the pot. Reduce the heat to low and simmer 45-50 minutes. I had to cook mine a little longer, the peas were still gritty after 45 minutes.

When the peas are tender and sort of mushy, time to buzz them up. Carefully puree with a stick blender until smooth.

The soup was a little thick. I don't know if that was from cooking the peas longer than the recommended or if it is supposed to be thick... guess I'll have to rewatch the episode to see AB's. Terrible, I know, but the answer must be found!

The soup was very smooth and creamy dispite having no dairy in it. When I reheated a bowl, in the microwave at work, it almost reminded me of mashed potatoes. It didn't taste like peas at all and had a light curry flavor. I know yummy tells you nothing about the dish, I'll never make it as a judge on Iron Chef America, but it was very yummy!

Alton's Curried Split Pea soup recipe.