Spicy Yellow Split Pea Soup with Italian Sausage and Green Pepper

Categories: December2011, Green pepper, Healthy, SBF, Soups, Split peas

Ingredients

• 1 T + 1 T olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 cup finely diced celery
• 1 green bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 T minced garlic (or less if you're not that into garlic)
• 1 tsp. Italian herb blend (a mix of dried oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram, and rosemary)
• 1/2 tsp. ground fennel seed
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 pkg. (5 links / 19.5 oz.) hot turkey Italian sausage
• 2 cups yellow split peas
• 6 cups chicken stock (plus more water as needed during cooking)
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Dice onion, celery, and green bell pepper into very small dice. Heat 1 T olive oil in large heavy soup pot, then add diced onion, celery, and green pepper and saute 3-4 minutes, or until vegetables are starting to get soft. Add minced garlic, Italian herb blend, ground fennel seed, and red pepper flakes (if using) and saute about 1-2 minutes more.

2. While vegetables cook, heat the other 1 T olive oil in large heavy frying pan. Squeeze hot turkey Italian sausage out of the casings and saute until the sausage is well browned, breaking apart with the turner as it cooks.

3. When sausage is done add it to soup pot with yellow split peas and chicken stock. Let soup come to a low boil, then reduce heat and let soup simmer. After 1 hour I tasted the soup for seasoning and added about 2 cups water. Let soup continue to simmer, adding water as needed, until split peas are completely soft and starting to break apart into the soup. Total cooking time will be 2-4 hours, depending on how old the split peas are and how soft you want them.

4. Serve with Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes for people to add to the soup if desired.

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