The Real Thing

Split Pea Soup (Betty Crocker Cookbook)

Habitant Pea Soup was a staple of my childhood, so I was pretty excited to produce the real thing, from scratch, in a an area rife with French Canadiana.

2 1/4 cups dried split peas (1 lb), sorted and rinsed 8 cups water 1/4 tsp pepper 1 lg onion 2 medium stalks celery, finely chopped 1 ham bone, 2 lbs ham shanks or 2 lbs smoked pork hocks 3 medium carrots, cut into 1/4” slices

1. Heat all ingredients except carrots to boiling in 4-quart Dutch oven, stirring occasionally; reduce heat Cover and simmer 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes.

By the way, smoked pork hocks look really gross. Really.

2. Remove ham bone; let stand until cool enough to handle. Remove ham from bone. Remove excess fat from ham; cut ham into 1/2” pieces.

Also, smoked pork hocks have a buttload of fat around them. Smoky, salty (delicious and hard not to stick back in the soup) fat.

3. Stir ham and carrots into soup. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes or until carrots are tender and soup is desired consistency.

In the end, it looked an awful lot like my post-Sunday School lunch from days gone by, but it was a little thicker and pastier than I recall. Maybe that means I’d done my French Canadian neighbours proud.

Just to be safe, I didn’t let them taste test.

The Small Slow Cooker Strikes Again!

Easy Cassoulet Soup (Better Homes and Gardens Slow Cooker Favorites Made Easy)

I think you’ve heard me complain about my slow cooker before. Just imagine cutting some of the ingredients in this recipe down to one quarter the called-for amount.

1 cup chopped carrots 1 cup chopped onion 3/4 cup chopped red or green sweet pepper 2 15-oz cans white kidney beans or great northern beans, rinsed and drained 8 oz skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1” pieces 8 oz cooked smoked turkey sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2” slices 1 bay leaf 1 tbsp snipped fresh parsley 1 tsp dried thyme, crushed 1/8 to 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 14-oz can Italian-style stewed tomatoes, undrained 1 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth 1/2 cup dry white wine

And though it’s a pain to cut up only one quarter of a red pepper, I did it anyway!

1. In a 3 1/2 to 5-quart slow cooker place carrots, onion, and sweet pepper. Add drained beans, chicken, sausage, and bay leaf to cooker. Sprinkle with parsley, thyme, cayenne pepper, and garlic. Combine undrained tomatoes, broth and wine. Pour over all.

I absolutely did not use turkey sausage, though. Heaven forfend such things darken the door of a northern grocery store.

2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 7 to 8 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Remove and discard bay leaf.

And yes, I guarantee that this resulted in another case of the flatulent femme-culinaire.