I made this soup to use up leftover black eye peas and potatoes.
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1/2 cup half-and-half cream
- 2 stalks celery, finely diced
- 2 onion peeled and finely diced
- 3/4 cup finely diced baby carrots
- 1 tsp. minced garlic
- 4 cups (32 oz) vegetable stock
- 6-7 cups peeled and diced potatoes
- 2 cups leftover blackeye peas (with onion and bacon if you made it that way)
- 10 ounce package frozen spinach
- 2 tbsp. chicken soup base
- 3 tbsp. salted butter
- a pinch ground sage
- 1/4 tsp. ground pepper
- Carbohydrate 24.1461896637953 g
- Cholesterol 11.3325000031278 mg
- Fat 7.18037290943251 g
- Fiber 4.44346245545375 g
- Protein 4.04564652456397 g
- Saturated Fat 2.91258211744333 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (229g)
- Sodium 516.655157342968 mg
- Sugar 19.7027272083416 g
- Trans Fat 1.03824896887829 g
- Calories 171 calories
Step-by-step
- Prep all vegetables first. Finely dice carrots, onion and celery. Peel and diced potatoes and put in water, set aside. Put spinach in colander in sink to thaw slightly while you are cooking.
- In a large non stick soup pot over medium heat, add olive oil, celery, onion and carrots. Salt veggies to bring out their water while you cook them. Cook until onion is translucent and celery and carrots are tender, about 7 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Deglaze the pot by adding the vegetable stock. Add the potatoes next, cooking until tender about 15 minutes or so on medium to medium low heat. There should be enough stock to cover potatoes, if there isn't add just enough hot water to just cover them.
- Once potatoes are done, add the chicken soup base and 5 cups of hot water.
- Once the soup comes back up to temperature, add the black eye peas (bacon, onion, pepper juice and all) straight from the fridge. You want them cold.
- it will only take a few minutes for the peas to warm through. After about 5 minutes, add the semi thawed spinach, allowing the hot soup the thaw it the rest of the way. Just keep stirring until it's thawed.
- It will take about 7 minutes or so for your spinach to turn bright green. Once it does, turn your heat to low. Do not turn the heat down before this, doing so will make everything take a lot longer to cook.
- Add half and half cream and butter, stir to incorporate. Turn heat off completely once they are incorporated and serve.
Velvety starches from diced potatoes meld with dairy fats and earthy legumes, producing a broth that coats the back of a spoon with thermal efficiency. Soluble starches leach from the potato exterior during the 15-minute simmer, thickening the vegetable stock naturally without requiring added roux or slurry.
- Submerge peeled and cut potatoes in cold water prior to cooking; this halts enzymatic browning by depriving polyphenol oxidase of oxygen.
- Introduce cold black-eyed peas directly from refrigeration into the simmering pot to prevent overcooking the legumes into mush.
- Maintain medium-high heat until the frozen spinach turns vibrant green and thaws completely, ensuring optimal chlorophyll retention before adding dairy.
- Incorporate half-and-half and butter at the final stage off the heat; high sustained temperatures can curdle milk proteins and break dairy emulsions.
Freezing this soup requires caution because dairy fats separate and starches sponge up moisture during thawing. Store portions in airtight glass containers for up to three days in the refrigerator, reheating gently on the stovetop over low heat while stirring constantly to re-emulsify the fats.
