Green on Green Soup

by Susan Voisin on January 21, 2007
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At the beginning of the year, I made a commitment to myself to get back to healthier eating: fewer breads and desserts and more vegetables. I especially wanted to get back into the habit of having a salad for lunch, but so far I just haven’t been able to do it. With the weather so cold, salads just haven’t appealed to me, even ones with hot ingredients, like Taco Salad.
So I’ve been eating a lot of soups and stews and trying to get my vegetables that way. Yet I still felt I wasn’t eating enough of those green, leafy vegetables that are right at the top of the nutrient density scale. A few days ago I decided to experiment with making a soup that was both packed with nutrition yet still…edible! And though it won’t win any beauty contests, I think you’ll be amazed with how delicious this unabashedly healthy soup tastes.
I start with a base of split peas and use a pressure cooker to speed things up. For sweetness I add carrot and sweet potato (I used the white-flesh kind, just to keep from muddying the green color), and for their earthiness, I include some mushrooms. Then come the greens, 2 pounds of them. I used what I had on-hand—bok choy, spinach, romaine, and some fresh collards from my garden—but feel free to use the ones that you like best. Fresh basil added at the end gives the soup a hint of a pesto flavor, and cashew butter adds richness and depth. I think you’ll find that every bite of this soup tastes different; in one spoonful you taste basil, but in the next you detect a certain sweetness, and just when you think you’ve figured it out, you notice the split peas. The color may be monochromatic, but the taste certainly isn’t!