RCP: Easy peasy soup

Our first snow storm of the season arrived today, and that always means pea soup to me.

Split pea soup without ham bone for two, plus:

Dice a couple of carrots, an onion, two potatoes, some garlic, and some fennel (I dislike celery and always use fennel instead).
Saute in olive oil until the vegetables are half cooked.

Mix 24 ounces of water and stock into a soup pot and add 1/2 teaspoon cumin. Wash off about 1 1/4 cup dry split peas, slice two sweet Italian sausages into 1/4 inch pieces, put the peas and sausage into the soup pot and start to simmer.

When the vegetables are ready, deglaze with 1/2 cup of Rainwater Madeira, and add it all to the soup pot, cover and simmer for about two hours, stirring every so often to make sure it doesn't burn at the bottom--add liquid if needed.

Sounds good and reminded me I have two beautiful ham shanks in the freezer. I never could develop a taste for split peas...still have a half used package in the extra fridge. I like the use of Medeira. I will have to try this with some of the dried beans I have. Now to choose which variety to use! I love winter for many reasons, but a big one is the long, slow cooking of various recipes. the way the house smells and the comforting food. Now, if we would just get some rain!