Soup and Salad

I found a great salad in this morning’s Washington Post. Perfect to go along with the soup I was planning. The salad was Avocado with Grapefruit and Orange Salad. Jim was on his way out so I said if you will bring home some avocadoes, I’ll make you a great salad to go with your soup. I think he felt cheated when he saw he would be eating fruit. It is a very good salad and certainly very refreshing with the soup. Serves 6. I cut it in half.
Ingredients:
2 large ruby red grapefruits, segmented with juices
3 large navel oranges, segmented with juices
½ C sweet onion, diced
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 T EVOO
2t sugar
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Flesh of 3 avocados, each about 8 oz.
2 T chopped fresh chives for garnish
Directions:
1. You need to make part of the salad at least 30 minutes before serving, but it can be made the day before.
2. Combine the grapefruit and orange segments plus their reserved juices, onion, vinegar, oil, sugar, salt and pepper in a medium bowl.
3. When ready to serve, cut the avocados into thin slices and divide them equally among individual salad plates, fanning the slices out. Spoon the citrus salad over them and top with chives and more pepper.
The Split Pea Soup comes from the Gallery Buffet Soup Cookbook, published by the Dallas Museum of Art. I bought it ages ago in the Boston Museum of Art. I’ve made this soup before and the quality depends on the ham bone. We had a great one this time. Serves 8 to 10.
Ingredients:
1# dried green peas
1 onion
4 medium size carrots
¼ stalk celery
1 garlic clove
2C lean cured ham, cubed or a meaty ham bone
Pinch of thyme
Salt and pepper
2 qts. Water
Directions:
1. Wash peas and remove imperfect ones. Soak overnight well covered in water. Drain and wash peas again in fresh water.
2. Place onion, celery, carrots, garlic in food processor and chop until very fine. Add the chopped veggies, and remaining ingredients to the pot with the ham bone.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 2 hours until the peas are done. Remove the ham bone and remove any meat that is on the bone. I took out all the bone and then used my immersion blender to cream the soup.
I think Jim had 4 bowls of soup. It was very good.
With this I served Jiffy Mix Corn Bread. To me it is the best so I don’t even bother with making it from scratch. I just follow the directions and add a cup of frozen corn kernels to the mix. My Mother used to add a small can of creamed corn. That was yummy also.
We tried Dyed-in-the Wool Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand tonight. It was delicious and I told Jim to get more.