Vitellian Pea Soup and Roman Pea Salad

Lady Ellie's Dried Pea recipes, both from Apicius as translated by Vehling
Made for the February Cooks Guild Meeting, subject Dried Legumes and Things Preserved for Winter

Vitellian Pea Soup

“Cook the peas, smooth them: crush pepper, lovage, ginger, and on the condiments put hard boiled
yolks, 3 ounces of honey, also broth, wine, and vinegar, place in a sauce pan the finely chopped
condiments with oil add, put on the stove to be cooked: with this flavor the peas which must be smooth; and if they be too harsh add honey and serve.”

We didn't get a photo of this because it was so good we ate it all first.

My way:
Cook 1 cup split peas in 3 cups meat broth (or salted water for vegetarians)
When they are completely falling apart as you stir, add ½ tsp pepper, 1 TBSP crushed dried lovage leaf, ¼ tsp ginger, 1 hard boiled egg yolk, 1 TBSP honey, 1 oz red wine and 1 TBSP balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp olive oil. Simmer briefly, adjust seasoning to taste.

Apicius also recommends this recipe for fava beans.

Roman Pea Salad

“Cook the peas, work well, place in the cold, stirring until they have cooled off. Finely chop onions and the whites of hard boiled eggs, season with salt and a little vinegar, the yolks press through a colander into an entree dish. Season with fresh oil and serve.”

My way:
Cook 1 cup split peas until very soft, drain and mash (or just keep cooking until they are really thick.
Place in a clear serving dish and chill. Finely mince the whites of two eggs and half a medium onion,
soaking the onion bits in white wine vinegar to make them milder. Mix whites, onions, salt, and spread on top of the cooked peas. Press the yolks through a strainer over the top as a garnish. The oil seems scarcely necessary, but if it were infused with garlic or other herbs a drizzle might be nice.
This is also awesome with fresh peas, not mashed, just briefly cooked.
For the best appearance these must be free-range farm eggs, not the pallid things laid by hens that never see the sun.
Vehling remarks, rather foolishly IMHO, "the texts fail to state that the whites, yolks, onions, vinegar and oil must eventually be combined into a dressing very similar to our own modern vinaigrette..."
 If the text doesn't say that, it quite possibly doesn't mean it, Mr. Vehling. My redaction follows the text exactly.