Kicking off soup season: Scotch Broth

Disappointingly enough, Scotch Broth does not contain any actual Scotch. This might seem like a good thing, since Scotch broth is a kind of soup - but it's mid-week, and the weather has turned cold, and "scotch" conveys mental images of cozy Aran sweaters and bagpipes (which I like) and a tumbler of Glenlivet (which I also like) and roaring fires and this guy:

(Possibly I need to cut back on the number of romance novels I've been reading lately...)

This is one of those recipes that I've always wanted to try and have never gotten around to; but since I'm fairly committed to the idea of making a big pot of soup each week for a quick dinner, emergency lunches, and whatnot, I figured it was only a matter of time until its turn rolled around. Once you've eliminate gluten (and therefore barley and noodles, two of my soup favorites) and dairy (the entire cream-soup genre, because there's just no substitute regardless of what my husband says) and tomatoes (there goes minestrone) and potatoes (sigh....), the options for a big pot of soup have narrowed considerably. There are only just so many times you can eat split pea soup.

For some people, the very idea of a soup RECIPE is just wrong. Soup, to these people, is meant to be a spontaneously-generated cauldron of tastiness at the serendipitous crossroads of whatever is in the fridge and motherly love. Whatever. I'm an unapologetic follower of recipes, and it's particularly nice when I can cook something as written without a lot of esoteric substitutions; in this case I swapped quinoa for barley, but I think millet would also work. Or you could leave the grains out entirely and just put in more peas.

Mark Bittman is my personal hero, and this soup comes from How to Cook Everything, the book I would take with me if I were going to be stranded on a desert island with a reasonably well-equipped kitchen for any length of time.

Scotch Broth 

10 cups stock or broth
1/2 cup split peas
1/2 cup quinoa
1 1/2 lb. lamb (leg or shoulder) cut into small chunks (if your grocery store sells lamb stew this will save you some chopping)
2 leeks, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
3-4 medium turnips, peeled and chopped
3-4 stalks celery
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the stock, split peas, quinoa (or barley, if you're not GF), and lamb in a large pot. When it comes to a boil, skim the foam, reduce the heat, and simmer about 45 minutes or until the lamb is very tender.

Add the chopped vegetables and cook another 20-30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Watch in dismay as your family eats it all for dinner, foiling your fiendish plan to skip cooking one night later this week.