Turnip Green and Black Eyed Pea Camp Soup
A Southern greens-and-peas soup rebuilt from dried parts, cooked in one pot at camp.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 31 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 30 min
- water
- 700 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Winter / snow
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant black eyed peas | 1/2 cup | dehydrated or precooked and dried; raw dried peas will not soften in camp |
|---|---|---|
| Dried turnip or collard greens | 1/2 cup packed | dehydrated at home, stems removed and chopped small |
| Freeze-dried potato dices | 1/4 cup | |
| Dried onion, leek, and celery flakes | 3 tbsp total | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried thyme | 1/2 tsp | |
| Bay leaf | 1 small | |
| Tomato paste | 1 tbsp | from a tube or a single-serve packet |
| Chicken bouillon | 1 heaping tsp | |
| Smoked paprika | 1/2 tsp | stands in for the ham hock smoke |
| Shelf-stable andouille or summer sausage | 3 oz | cut into coins before you leave |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Hot pepper vinegar | 1 tbsp | hot peppers steeped in white wine vinegar, made at home a day ahead |
Method
- Heat the oil and brown the sausage coins in the dry pot for two minutes. Push them to one side or scoop them out.
- Add the onion, leek, and celery flakes with a splash of water and let them soften for a minute.
- Stir in the tomato paste and smoked paprika and cook until the paste darkens.
- Pour in 700 ml of water. Add the peas, greens, potato, bouillon, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf.
- Simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring now and then. Add water if it tightens. The greens should go soft, not squeaky.
- Return the sausage, pull the bay leaf, and finish each bowl with a spoonful of hot pepper vinegar.
The original takes two hours because a ham hock has to give up its stock and turnip greens have to break down. Neither is happening on a canister stove. The workaround is to move all the slow parts home: dehydrate the greens so they rehydrate in twenty minutes instead of two hours, use precooked dried black eyed peas, and replace the hock with smoked paprika plus a hard smoked sausage that needs no refrigeration.
The tomato paste and the vinegar are doing more than they look like they are. The paste, cooked briefly in the oil, gives the broth color and a bottom note the bouillon cannot. The vinegar at the end is what keeps a pot of soft greens and starchy peas from tasting flat. Make it at home a day ahead, peppers in white wine vinegar, and carry it in a small dropper bottle.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one bag: peas, greens, potato, vegetable flakes, bouillon, spices, bay leaf. Sausage, oil, tomato paste, and the vinegar ride separately in the food bag or a side pocket.
Variations
- Swap the sausage for a foil packet of chicken and use double bouillon.
- Cornmeal stirred in at the end, one tablespoon at a time, turns it into a thicker mush that eats like soup with cornbread already in it.
- Skip the sausage and use vegetable bouillon for a meatless pot; it is still nut-free but no longer high in protein.
https://foragerchef.com/turnip-green-soup