Ooooooooooh, yeah! That's a great idea. Thin soup with light ingredients (as long as you don't have 14 mini meatballs in your bowl.
I like the thin soups when serving with other foods, and heavy/thick soups when soup and bread are the meal. Split pea is a heavy soup the way we make it.
One of my favorites is Ham Barley soup:
Hearty Ham Barley Soup
From the Kitchen of: Joe Valencic
Ingredients:
1/2C Sweet onion diced
2 Cloves Garlic diced
3 Celery stalks
1/2Bag baby carrots – cut up into rings or whole
3-4 Medium potatoes peeled and diced
1-1/2C Pearled Barley
1 – 15oz Can of peas
1# Smoked pork butt, cooked ham or smoked ham hocks – diced
3 – 14.5oz Cans of chicken broth or stock
6C Water
Salt/Pepper to taste
In a large stock pot (8qt or larger) cook onions in a little oil until translucent. Add celery, garlic and carrots and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add ham and potatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and liquid. Cover pot and bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer for 1-1/2 hrs. Adjust seasoning and serve with fresh crusty bread & butter and fresh cracked pepper.
