There's more to a festive St. Patrick's Day dinner than the famous corned beef and cabbage. Split pea soup honors the "wearing of the green" while provides a hearty and healthy addition to your St. Patrick's Day meal. Once you've assembled the ingredients in a stock pot and started the simmerin' you're basically done - until it's time to eat that is.

As is the case with many of my recipes, this one is a collaboration of several split pea soup recipes. You can eliminate the potatoes, if you wish. If you would rather have a soup with a smoother texture, you can have at it with your immersion blender before serving. Keep it vegetarian by omitting the ham. In any event, be sure to have a basket of crusty Irish soda bread on the table.


Split Pea Soup

1 16 oz package of dried split peas
4 cups water
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup onions, diced
1-2 potatoes, diced (optional)
1-2 carrots sliced or cubed
2 cups cooked ham, diced
2 teaspoons marjoram
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon dried basil
ground pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a stock pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered until all ingredients are soft. This might take up to two hours. Stir now and then.

This recipe provides 8 generous servings.

My "Writing about Food" class often reads selections written by Laura Shapiro, as so as I prepare for a little down time during spring break, I wanted to explore one of her longer works. Shapiro has written two books: Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century and Something from the Oven:   Reinventing Dinner in 1950's America. I chose the latter book. A food historian, Shapiro reminds us that the process of cooking has changed so much that we often forget that in the postwar years, women were expected to produce a three course meal for dinner each night, and do so while seeing to the thousand and one other tasks they were responsible for in the course of an ordinary day. Something from the Oven highlights how women went from producing gourmet meals to cooking with Jello, Spam, canned vegetables, and boxed cake mixes. Some women even went as far as to rely solely - at least for several nights a week - on completely prepared frozen TV dinners. Shapiro cites that in the 1920's, women spent about twenty-three hours a week preparing food and cleaning up, as compared to about 18 hours a week in the late 1950's. Part of this decrease of time in the kitchen had to do with the rising rates of women entering the workforce. Still, most women had, according to Shapiro, "relegated convenience foods to a minor role in meal planning." The food industry was going to have to "sell" women - homemakers and breadwinners alike - on the value of prepared foods. To do this, they had to sell the American public on the unique taste of prepared food and the strange way of cooking it. Would you say the food industry succeeded?  I would!

You'll find lots of name dropping in Something from the Oven. Names like cookbook author, food columnist, and afternoon TV host, Poppy Cannon, as well as that of Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein's companion of 39 years. Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, coauthor of Cheaper by the Dozen, and Peg Bracken, author of I Hate to Cook Book also are mentioned. A sizeable number of pages is devoted to America's first lady of food - Betty Crocker. Also included are the stories of MFK Fisher, Julia Child, and Feminine Mystique author, Betty Friedan, whose message that women should pursue activities outside the home contributed to an increase in the use of prepared food and a decrease in the time spent in the kitchen.
 
As usual, Shapiro has done her research well. Whether food is your hobby or an obsession, you’ll enjoy Something from the Oven. And don’t be surprised if reading it inspires you to go into the kitchen and cook!
 
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