Novel Food #2: Green Pea Soup
December 19, 2007 | Filed Under Novel Food, Soups/Chowders/Gumbos
Lisa of Champaign Taste and Simona of Briciole are co-hosting their second literary/culinary event — Novel Food #2. I had fun participating in the first event and couldn’t resist the opportunity to participate again.
This time, I decided to try out one of the dishes prepared in the thriller, TOTE TANZEN NICHT (The Dead Don’t Dance) written by my friend, author Olivia Kroth. The story is about a mental patient who goes in search of vengeance against people she thinks are her enemies.
One of the characters in the story is 55 year old housekeeper, Hermine. She works for wealthy family in a villa in the Taunus mountains of Germany. Hermine has had a disturbing childhood but when she grows up one of the things that makes her happy is cooking. She loves to prepare meals for the family and uses recipes from a handwritten cookbook that she inherited from her deceased mother. One of the dishes she prepares is Green Pea Soup. The story (and recipe in the book) is in German. Olivia was kind enough to translate the recipe for me. Thanks, Olivia! You can check out her blog here.
I’d never had Green Pea Soup before and looked forward to trying it. The recipe calls for fresh green peas but I could only find the frozen kind. Also it calls for bacon cubes. I couldn’t find thick bacon, so I bought the bacon slices. I should have cut them but I didn’t feel like it. I cooked the long strips as is. I didn’t have a problem with that. 
There’s no mention of how much water to use, so I used about 4 cups. Oh! Also the recipe calls for four carrots. I like baby carrots and used that instead. Also, I like celery. As a result, I added a bit more than the recipes asks.
As you can see, I followed the recipe but with a "Paz touch." I’m not sure what Hermine’s Green Pea soup is supposed to look like but this is what mine looked like.
I enjoyed the Green Pea soup very much. I think it’s especially perfect for a cold day and it was definitely a cold day in New York City when I prepared. It warmed my body from head to toe. I loved the taste – the bacon, vegetables, marjoram, and potatoes. So hearty and filling. I loved my soup so much that I took the leftovers to work. I’d bought a new lunch jug and my soup stayed nice and warm from the time that I’d packed it till the time that I was ready to eat it. I came home and had some more for dinner.
If you’re interested in reading more about the Novel Food event and participating, go here.
Paz
Ed. Note: Ahhh! I understand that the soup is supposed to be blended? Hehehe! I didn’t know that and as you see, all the veggies in my soup are whole. No matter — next time I prepare this, I’ll make it blended. In the meantime, I liked it the way you see it in the photos. I liked biting into all the foods. But next time, I’ll do it differently. See, this is what I mean by cooking adventure. I learn something new, each time I cook.
Another Note: You can look at the round up of recipes and books on Champaign Taste (the first half) and Briciole (the second half).
Green Pea Soup
Tote Tanzen Nicht (The Dead Do Not Dance) by Olivia Kroth
Ingredients (for 4 portions):
500 g fresh green peas
200 g potatoes
1 stem of leek
2 small onions
1 small celery
4 fresh carots
2 l consommé (bouillon)
100 g bacon cubes
1 sward (bacon crust)
1 spoonful of melted fat
salt and pepper
marjoram
1 laurel leaf
Heat the melted fat in a pot, stew the bacon cubes in it, fill up with consommé. Place the sward and green peas into it and let them boil for a few minutes. Cut the carots, leek, celery and potatoes into small pieces, put them into the pot with salt,pepper, marjoram and the laurel leaf. Let the soup simmer for about 90 minutes on low heat.
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26 Responses to “Novel Food #2: Green Pea Soup”
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Hello Paz
Thank you for the recipe “Green Pea Soup”, the summary of my thriller and showing the book cover of it. I feel honored.
Your photos of the soup look gorgeous. I am glad you liked the taste and took some to work too.
Hoping that your readers will enjoy it,
Olivia
Hi Paz, what a nice idea to cook from a novel! I don’t know why but it seems that green pea soup helds a special attraction to writers, I know that Lindy over at Toast has derived the recipe for this particular soup from a novel as well! For me (Dutch born and bred) it makes me smile to see what we feel is our “national” soup featured.
(Although we would cook all the components together to get a velvety green soup with bits of orange and leek showing). The Dutch recipe is on my blog if you’d like to take a peek.
This looks very similar to Estonian green pea soup, although we tend to use dried peas. Peas & pork – a great wintry soup combination!!
Hi Olivia: Thanks for sharing your book and recipe with us!
Hi Baking Soda: Welcome! How interesting and nice that your national soup is Green pea soup. I like the soup because it definitely hits the spot, especially on a wintry day. Yum! It’s good to know that the soup should be creamier. I’ll make it that way soon. I’m interested in your Dutch recipe. I’ll stop by your blog soon.
Hi Pille: It’s good to know that one can use dried peas. You’re right, the peas and pork is a great wintry combination. Perhaps, I’ll be seeing your version on your blog? I hope so.
Paz
Lovely post, lovely recipe and great photos. I particularly enjoyed the final note, because indeed that’s what’s fun about cooking: it is always an adventure. And the novel sounds quite interesting, not to mention a bit scary.
I think this version is very nice
Hi Simona: This is a real thriller. The characters can be scary but they touch your hearts as well.
Hi Kat: Thanks so much.
Paz
Well your whole vegetable pea soup looks just lovely!
Hey there, Susan! Good to see you here! Thanks!
Paz
A comforting and nurishing soup! I bet it tasted great!
Cheers and Happy Holidays!
Rosa
Hi, Paz. You turn everything you cook into a work-of-art photo. I swear, you could do food photo shoots for magazines!
I enjoyed your story of the pea soup. I haven’t done it in years myself but, I can make Polish style pea soup that uses dried split peas, a leftover smoked ham hock on the bone (the Polish don’t waste anything), potatos, and optional carrots. You cook it slowly in a lot of water until the split peas turn into a gruel (no need to use a blender; they fall apart and turn to mush by themselves). No salt used because of the ham; add the boiled potato cubes at the end; no need for other ingredients as the flavor comes from the wonderful ham.
The first time I made pea soup as a young bride, it turned out really well. So, each day, I would add a little water and a dash of salt (because it thickens like crazy when it cools) and we’d have more pea soup. A week later, we were still trying to get rid of that damned soup! I kept thinking of the children’s nursery story about the magic porridge pot that filled all the streets in the village with porridge because no one could remember the magic words to stop it from cooking. Not to mention, “Peas porridge hot; peas porridge cold. Peas porridge in the pot, nine days old.” Then it dawned on me: you’re supposed to take out of the big pot only what you need for the day and reheat that!
But, yes, pea soup is wonderfully satisfying and tasty with its chunks of ham and the potatos. It is oh-so-good with black bread (pumpernickel).
How interesting – I gather from your readers that almost every country has its own version of green pea soup. There is a Dutch, Estonian, Polish version …
That is the nice thing about blogging, you can communicate with people around the globe and exchange recipes.
Hi Rosa: Yes, it did taste great.
Happy holidays to you, too!
Hi Kathleen: Thanks for your huge compliment!
LOL! I LOVE your pea soup story. haha! Too funny. Thanks for sharing it.
Hi there, Olivia: Yes, it’s very interesting that there are slightly different versions of pea soup recipe. Awesome! Yes, I definitely learn a lot about cooking from other bloggers. I’m very grateful.
Paz
hope you are well and looking forward to Christmas??
your soup looks fab, just what we need, when its so cold.
I have tagged you to take part in the Christmas Meme,its on my blog,
thanks xxxxxxxxxxx
I was going to say that I have only had pea soup blended, but yours looks delicious!! Even if you were supposed to blend it, I would like to try it this way, too!
yum! i think veggies look better whole than blended anyways. and i like to know what i’m eating! if i had to cook a food from a novel, i would definitely make treacle tart from harry potter! not quite as sophisticated, but i’m so curious.
Hi Megan: Thanks for the tag. I posted my meme.
Hi Deborah: Thanks! I really did like my soup even though it wasn’t blended.
Hi Sugarlaws: Thank you!
Your treacle tart idea sounds really enticing. You should participate in the next Novel Food when it comes up. That would be a cool entry. 
Paz
I love soup this time of year. I just bought some dried whole yellow peas with a Swedish recipe on the back. Last week I made split green pea soup from dried, where the peas mush up. Very tasty, but different from cooking frozen peas (which I imagine are sweeter).
I want to try your soup. I have many food allergies but can have peas and carrots and uncured turkey bacon sold at the health food store, so your recipe should be workable.
This will be a wonderful new thing to try! I think Hubby is tired of the regular split peas, anyway.
Hi LynnH: If you have a chance to try it, let me know how it turns out. I hope you like it.
Paz
Hmmm….it looks yummy. I’m one of the few kids who loved peas. I especially love English pea salad — frozen peas thawed, small cubes of cheddar cheese and lots of mayo.
What bad can that be, right?
Hi Ming the Merciless: I love the sound of your pea salad. You’re right. It can’t be that bad.
Paz
Hi Paz,
What a great-looking soup (I like the way you can see each ingredient, since you left them whole. Whole, or blended — two great versions of one soup). And the story sounds very interesting; I’ll have to look to see if there’s an English translation. What a great book cover!
Thanks so much for taking part in our event again. Seeing what other people come up with is so interesting and fun.
I love those old handwritten cookbooks — they really can give you insight into the life of the people who wrote them. Olivia had a great idea for including one of these books in her narrative. As for soup — I don’t believe there is a single way to make any soup! If it tasted good and warmed you on a cold winter day, sounds like you made it exactly right!!
Hi Lisa: Yes, it’s been interesting seeing what everyone comes up with for this event. The story is very interesting but I don’t think there is an English translation. Yet. The book cover is definitely enticing. Makes me want to pick up the book.
Hi Laurie: Welcome! Yes, I, too, like the idea of incorporating the old handwritten cookbooks into the storyline. As you wrote, it gives even more insight to the character of Hermine. And yes. This soup hit the soup when I ate it. I made it at the right time — a very cold day.
Thanks for stopping by,
Paz
I made a green pea soup and it was spectacular. I can’t have potato but had some of those (African?) yams that look like a sweet potato, but are purple on the outside and creamy with light green dots inside. The barely-sweet yams were perfect in the soup. I also used carrot and the uncured turkey bacon I can get at the health food store (allergy concerns).
It was so good, I just went to the store again to buy another bag of frozen green peas. Then I realized I had not reported back to you.
I really appreciate the recipe idea. There are so many things I can *not* eat, and many things that don’t make me ill are not that yummy. This was totally a winner and will become part of our regular rotation of dinners.
Oh… did not blend the soup. I know I would not like it as well without the textures.