Late winter pulse soups for vegetarians and carnivores

Martina Field and Jeff Green | Feb 24, 2021

We congratulate ourselves every year for making it to the end of February with our sanity more or less intact. Four months have passed since the assault of the cold, damp and dark days that started on November 1st and morphed into the snow and cold of winter. 

The sun sets at 5:55 pm on March 1st, a vast improvement from the 4:24 pm in the dead of winter. And by the end of March, we will have passed the spring equinox and the time change and the sun will be setting at 7:55 pm.

Unfortunately, March is a fickle month, balancing the promise of spring with the persistence of winter. For all the promise of maple syrup season and seedlings in the window, there is an equal measure of ice and snow. It can be the cruellest of months, mostly because we are already beaten down by winter,

when it begins, and it can be disheartening to have to wait through 31 days of March just to get to April.

This year, of course, March also marks a full year of COVID, the short lull before the third wave, the endless wait for a vaccine ...

This is all to say that, more than ever, we need hearty soups in March, soups that have easy to find ingredients, and are easy to prepare. French Canadian yellow pea soup and Italian red lentil soup are two of the best.

These soups can be served as one course in a larger meal, but in our home they are the meal, served with a green salad, and some good bread. Certainly this March, a hearty bowl of soup is all anyone has the energy to prepare.

Italian style lentil soup (vegetarian)

(20 minutes preparation, 45 minutes cooking time)

Ingredients

1/8 of a cup Olive oil

Onions – 1 cup chopped

Garlic 6 or more cloves – coarsely chopped

Carrots – 1 cup chopped

Celery – 3/4 cup chopped

Parsnips – 1/2 cup chopped

1 1/4 cups red lentils

1 16 oz. can whole tomatoes

3 roasted red peppers

dried herbs to taste – 1 bay leaf, oregano, basil, thyme

1 tsp each cumin and paprika

1 1/2 litres vegetable stock, water or a combination

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup chopped Swiss chard, kale or spinach  

freshly chopped Italian Parsley to taste

lemon slices

parmesan or pecorino cheese

toasted pumpkin seeds 

Method

Clear onions and garlic in olive oil and add the chopped carrots, parsnips and celery. Saute all the vegetables together on medium heat until they start to get moist and change colour. Add lentils and stock or water, add the tomatoes, peppers and dried herbs and salt and pepper to taste, cutting them up as you add them to the pot. Bring to a boil, and then turn down the heat and cover the pot loosely with a lid and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. The lentils will be very soft. Five minutes before serving, add the spinach and melt it into the soup. Remove bay leaf, and serve in large bowls. Squeeze lemon and grate cheese at the table. Sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds. If you like hot sauce, add some at the table as well. Serve with bread and butter and the lemon slices (the lemon really brings out the flavours).

*I always use whole tomatoes because my grandmother said they have to use the best tomatoes for the whole tomatoes. I don't know if that is based on facts but it has the ring of truth.

Split pea soup

(15 minutes preparation, 60-90 minutes cooking time)

1 cup chopped onions

3-6 cloves garlic – coarsely chopped

1 cup carrots - chopped

1 cup celery - chopped

1 ham hock (skin on) or soup bones

2 cups split peas

2 litres chicken stock, water, or a combination

salt and pepper

Method 

Use a large soup pot or medium stock pot.

Over medium heat, clear the onions, add garlic and stir in. Wait a minute. Add the carrots and celery and saute the vegetables together. Add the ham hock or soup bones, the split peas and stock (or water), salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, loosely cover and simmer over low-medium heat for 45-60 minutes Remove the ham hock. Cut off the skin and return the skin to the pot or discard. Cut the meat off the ham hock and return the shredded meat and the bone from the ham hock to the soup. Simmer for another 30 minutes. Remove the skin and ham hock at this point if you like. You can use a potato masher, or a stick mixer, to break up the peas at this point, but it is not necessary. 

Serve in large bowls with bread and butter.