In Harmony, a public library soup cook-off brings people together
Last week, seven local soup makers toted their slow cookers to our town's Harmony Library for the first-ever Soup Cook-Off. Despite the threat of snow, a large crowd turned out to taste the soups and vote for their favorite soup. I was one of the judges for the event, and I loved tasting each of the soups. The grand prize winning soup, made by a high school student (isn't that great?), Pepere's Pea Soup was the judges' favorite. It's a traditional comfort-food soup, a recipe passed down from grandfather to granddaughter, perfect for the slow cooker. I'll share the winner of the People's Choice Award here on Soup Chick in a couple of weeks.
Pepere's pea soup
Serves 8.
Ingredients
1 16-oz bag whole yellow peas (not split)
1 small onion
2 stalks celery
3 cloves garlic
2 carrots
1 ham bone (plus extra pieces of ham, if any)
4-6 cups water
2 cubes chicken bouillon
Dash each of fresh black pepper and celery seed
Directions
Pour peas in a slow cooker and cover with 2-3 cups water. Cover the cooker, and allow the peas to soak overnight.
In the morning, cut the onion, celery, garlic and carrots into chunks. Place in a food processor and chop into very small pieces. Put the vegetables in the slow cooker over the soaked peas. Add the ham bone (and pieces of ham). Pour in additional water until all is covered, making sure to leave approximately 2 inches to the top of the pot (so it doesn't boil over).
Add the bouillon cubes, pepper and celery seed.
Cover and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.
Remove the ham bone (be aware that during the cooking, pieces of bone could have fallen off the large bone).
Serve hot, with crusty bread.
I love events like these!
Pam, it was great fun to come into the library and see all of the slow cookers plugged in, and know that hot soup was waiting for us.
I'm not sure I've ever seen whole yellow peas - but they look worth seeking out! Love soups with ham in them!
Soup-a-Woman, you can find them in bags in the Goya foods section of your supermarket, or where Caribbean foods are sold.
Hi Lydia,
What fun and so exciting that a high school student won with her family's special recipe! I'll have to make a big pot for my support group meeting soon. Thanks for the tip on the whole yellow peas. I've never used them before either, but now I know exactly where to look for them. :-)
Shirley
A lovely post. Thank you.
Shirley, it was a wonderful afternoon in our town! The whole yellow peas are easy to find. The small supermarket in my town carries them, both in the Goya products and in the store brand beans.
Marcia, you would have loved it. Glocester at its best.
Funny I always used to use green peas for my ham and pea soup and just recently tried the yellow ones as I had run out. I much prefer the flavor of the soup.
Africanaussie, for split pea soup, either green or yellow will work, though I also think the yellow taste a bit sweeter. This soup calls for whole peas, and if you haven't tried them, you'll find the texture great as some of the peas smash up into the soup.
Reading today's entry made my day.
CJ, I'm so glad to hear that. This was one of those community events that makes me so glad I live in a town where people really love their library.
It's not always super easy to find the whole yellow peas. Lately, we've been finding them at Dave's Market. The 'Pepere' in this story (my dad) goes to Maine every year on vacation and buys them by the case. I hope people do try his recipe (which originally came from his mother, Cora - born in 1894). Enjoy :-)
What a lovely young woman, and how exciting to hear that a library, always a favorite place, can bring the community together with food.
Joyce, thanks for the added info. We loved this soup! I just looked for the whole peas and found them at Stop & Shop and Dino's, I'm happy to report.
Susan, it was a wonderful event, and I hope it's the first of many soup cook-offs at the library.
This is great. I'm forwarding this post link to my local librarian.