DUTCH PEA SOUP

If you're thinking that you don't like pea soup, then you might want to reconsider your opinion. This is the best pea soup I've ever had!

3 lbs. pork spareribs
1 lb. dried split peas
2 qts. water
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 16oz. can dieced tomatoes
2 cups chopped cabbage
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon thyme

Cut spareribs into serving pieces. Place spareribs, peas, water, onion, salt and pepper in your largest pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer 2 hours. Cool, then chill in refrigerator 6 hours or more to allow fat to harden. Remove fat and bones and discard. Add remaining ingredients, cover and bring to a boil. Simmer 30 minutes or until cabbage is tender.
Serves: 8 to 10

"In the vegetable world, there is nothing so innocent, so confiding in its expression, as the small green face of the freshly shelled green pea. Asparagus is pushing and bossy, lettuce is loud and blowsy, radishes are gay and playful, but the little green pea is so helpless and friendly that it makes really sensitive stomachs suffer to see how he is treated in the average home. Fling him into the water and let him boil-and that's that."~William Wallace Irwin